


Innocence Lost

by Settiai



Category: Angel: the Series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, F/F, F/M, Juvenilia, Pregnancy, Teen Pregnancy, Unplanned Pregnancy, What Was I Thinking?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2002-04-20
Updated: 2002-04-20
Packaged: 2017-11-14 22:14:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 24
Words: 47,933
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/520057
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Settiai/pseuds/Settiai
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"In one moment, you can make a choice that will haunt you for the rest of your life." Dawn had never realized how true that statement was, until she made a mistake that would change her life forever. [Note: unfinished and abandoned.]</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I was in junior high/high school. Don't judge me.
> 
> * * *
> 
> This chapter, and the next two, takes place after the episode "Older and Far Away" but before "As You Were." Starting with the fourth chapter, the story starts veering AU from near the end of "Hell’s Bells."

Fifteen-year-old Dawn Summers was careful to shut the door quietly behind her as she crept out of the house, but she couldn't help but flinch at the sound of it clicking shut. Even though the noise was almost inaudible, her heart started beating faster in anticipation of someone hearing her. She knew that it was much too early for her sister to be home, but Willow was asleep on the couch... and she didn't want to risk getting caught just yet.

After a few seconds had passed, she her racing pulse slowly began slowing back down. Deep inside of her, a twinge of hurt sprang up because no one had attempted to stop her, but on the surface she appeared calm and collected. A grim smile crossed her lips as she hurried into the darkness of the Sunnydale streets.

As she walked under a streetlight a few yards down the street, Dawn glanced down at her outfit. Anyone who saw her tonight would have no clue that she was only fifteen, not with her wearing something as skimpy as this. She doubted that anyone would mistake her for being older than twenty-one, but she hoped that she appeared to be at least eighteen or nineteen.

As she picked up her pace, she felt a single tear make its way into the corner of her eye. She furiously reached upward and wiped it away, berating herself for the momentary lapse. Dawn knew that she would probably regret her actions in the morning, but for now she wanted nothing more than to just go wild for the night. No one understood her, that was obvious to her now. God, none of them had even had a clue that she had been stealing. None of them...

A grim, determined look came to her face as she hurried along towards her destination. She would have hell to pay when Buffy found out that she had snuck out, but for the moment she couldn't care less. Let her be angry… if she even noticed that Dawn was missing before the morning came.

* * *

Dawn looked around, grinning wildly at the mass of people crammed into the small bar that she was in. No one had even glanced twice when she had walked in, so she assumed that she had been correct in assuming her outfit would make her appear several years older. Even though she knew that she still looked too young to legally buy liquor, no one seemed to mind as long as she had some money with her.

The music in the room was loud, and she probably would have been in shock if she had been able to actually understand half of the lyrics… which she couldn't. There was a smoky haze throughout the entire place, and she was already feeling slightly dizzy from the variety of familiar, and unfamiliar, smells.

She hadn't come there just to stand around though.

With a determined look on her face, Dawn pushed her way over to the bar. She caught the barkeep's attention and waved a ten-dollar bill in the air. "Give me a shot of..." 

She quickly glanced around before letting her eyes stop on a cute guy who was probably only a few years older than her. "...whatever he's having," she finished.

The barkeeper gave her a quick glance before shrugging his shoulders and pouring the murky liquor into a glass. Dawn shoved the money towards him and, without hesitating, brought the glass up to her lips and let the liquor slide down her throat. She resisted the urge to gag and quickly set the glass back down. 

As the alcohol burned its way down her throat, she thought for a moment that maybe she should just call it quits and head home. That thought disappeared, however, as the college-age guy she had glanced at earlier stood up and walked over to her. With a warm smile, he turned towards the barkeeper.

"Give me another glass -- and the lady too, if she wants one," he said, winking at Dawn as she did so. "My treat."

Dawn looked up at him, momentarily uncertain of what to say. She finally just smiled and then nodded her head towards the barkeeper. With another shrug, the man poured them each another glass and walked down towards the other end of the bar.

The young man sat down beside her and picked up his glass. He held it up and then quickly downed it. She quickly followed his example and was surprised to discover that this time the drink didn't seem to taste quite as horrible. The young man grinned at her and leaned in closer. "I'm Kyle. How about you?"

She looked up at him with a smile. "I'm Dawn," she said after a moment or two. "Dawn Summers."

Kyle gave her another wink as he stood up and held out his hand. "Well then, Dawn Summers, would you like to dance with me?"

She merely smiled and let him guide her onto the middle of the dance floor. After that, she was barely aware of anything else. The rest of the night seemed to be a mix of loud music, strong drinks, dancing, and…

Kyle.

* * *

Dawn felt as if everything was flashing by her. There were loud noises, bright lights, and tons of people. Her head was spinning, and everything seemed distorted. Her eyes didn't seem to focus clearly, but at the same time they seemed to be more focused than ever before. Kyle was standing in front of her, a shark-like grin on his handsome face. 

She felt his arms around her and then his lips on hers. Unlike the last time she had been kissed, she seemed to know exactly what was going on now. She let him gently caress her hair as he pulled her closer to him. Everything was crazy, wild, exciting...

And then, suddenly, it was quiet.


	2. Chapter 2

As Dawn slowly opened her eyes, the first thing she realized was that her head felt as if it was about to explode. Her stomach seemed to be rolling, and there was a taste in her mouth that vaguely reminded her of old gym socks. Or maybe a dead animal. She let out a muffled groan as she realized that she was laying on the ground, and she quickly pushed away any thoughts relating to what else might be under her.

After taking a deep breath, she pushed herself up into a sitting position. She immediately regretted that decision as the pounding in her head increased tenfold, but all she could do was breath deeply for a second or two. After the pain had subsided just a little, she slowly looked around her. "What the hell am I doing in an alley?" she muttered softly.

Dawn glanced down at her trashy clothes, and let out a quiet moan before leaning against a nearby wall. She knew that it had been pure luck that she hadn't been found by some vampire or demon, but in some ways she actually wished that she had been.

"Shit," she muttered, "how am I going to explain this to Buffy?"

She moved slightly as a brief twinge of pain moved through her lower body, and then she froze. Sudden realization flooded through her as she glanced down at her clothing once more, noticing for the first time how rumpled it looked.

As if she hadn't been wearing it all night.

"Oh God," Dawn whispered, her hand coming up to her mouth.

* * *

Spike quickly slipped out of the sewer and into one of the many dark, deserted alleys of the town. The blood supply in his crypt was starting to run low, and as of late he hadn't had much time during the night to go and get some. He smirked slightly as he thought about exactly why he hadn't had much time, but his grin faded as he came around a corner. 

He saw what appeared to be a young woman sitting near the alley wall, her head buried in her arms and her body obviously shaking with silent sobs. Judging from the outfit she was wearing, she was either a hooker or some teenager who had partied just a little too much during the night. Whichever it was, he knew that she didn't need to stay there. Did the kid not know anything about Sunnydale?

With an annoyed sigh he started walking over to the woman. "When did I become such a bloody softie?" he muttered.

He purposely walked loudly, letting the girl know that someone was coming up behind her. As he came close, the girl's head shot up and he found himself looking into the bloodshot eyes of a teenager. Two very familiar eyes. 

"Dawn?" he said incredulously as he froze where he stood. "What the hell are you doing here?"

* * *

Dawn's eyes filled with fear as she looked up at Spike. She had never seen him truly angry before, but she felt that it was safe to say that this was what he looked like. There was practically fire shooting from his eyes, and she had a feeling that she was about to either receive an extremely severe lecture… or have her throat ripped out.

Unfortunately, it was the lecture.

She let her mind wander as the vampire raved on, and after a few minutes she became aware of the fact that her head was still spinning. She felt her eyes lose their focus on Spike, and she quickly prayed that he wouldn't notice that she wasn't listening to him. It seemed, however, that her prayers weren't going to be answered.

As the world seemed to start whirling around her, she heard the anger in his voice immediately turn to worry. "What's wrong?"

He stared at her for a moment, and as she watched in surprise he sniffed the air. Realization flooded his face, and Dawn couldn't help but look away as something akin to disappointment appeared in his eyes.

"Please don't tell Buffy," she whispered softly. "Please, Spike."

He stared at her for a few seconds, his face completely unreadable. "What happened?" he asked finally.

"I just wanted to have some fun," Dawn said weakly. "It was only supposed to be a little fun. I… I didn't mean for it to go this far."

Spike kept staring at her, and she couldn't help but squirm slightly under his stern gaze. "Who was he?" he asked coldly.

Dawn shrugged, an ashamed look in her eyes. "I don't know," she whispered. "But please don't tell Buffy."

Suddenly, she felt her mind seem to detach from her body. Her eyesight slowly faded into a murky darkness as she let the dizziness that had been lurking in the shadows overcome her. As she slowly slumped down to the cold ground, she felt two strong hands grab her and gently pick her up.

Then everything slowly faded away into nothingness.

* * *

Buffy paced nervously across the floor of the Magic Box, her eyes moving wildly across the room every few seconds. Her hands were clasped together, and she looked like she hadn't slept at all the night before.

"Where could she be, guys?" she said worriedly. "I mean, we've been practically everywhere in Sunnydale and talked to almost all of her friends. Oh god, what if she isn't even here anymore. What if she ran away to Los Angeles or somewhere like that? What if..."

"How about you stop asking 'what if this' and 'what if that'," Xander broke in, "and try to figure out where Dawn is and why she's there…"

He trailed off and shook his head apologetically. "And I'm not helping in the least bit." 

Buffy gave him a weak smile before glancing over at Willow. The red-haired woman gave her an remorseful smile of her own. "I should have noticed when she left," she said with a sigh. "If I had just checked on her earlier..."

"If you had just checked on her earlier, she probably still wouldn't have been there," Buffy said with a tired sigh as she sank into a nearby chair. "From what I saw, it looked like she snuck out fairly early in the night. It's not your fault, Willow."

Buffy shook her head and glanced down at her hands. "If only I had a clue where to look," she said bitterly. "I mean, this is Sunnydale. So many things could have happened to her out there..."

"Yeah," Anya suddenly said, shaking her head vehemently. "She could have been drained by vampires, or captured by a demon, or kidnapped by some crazy, devil-worshipping cult, or snuck over to some cute guy's house and spent the night in his room... What?"

A baffled expression appeared on the ex-demon's face as Buffy and Willow both shot venomous looks at her. Xander quickly walked over to his fiancé and put his hands on her shoulders.

"Anya, sweetie," he said gently. "We really didn't want to think about what might have happened to Dawn. In fact, we're trying not to think about it."

"Then why do you keep mentioning her?" Anya asked curiously.

Just as Buffy was reaching for the nearest weapon, the bell over the door rang. All four of the people in the room quickly looked up, and hopeful expression appeared on Buffy's face. It slowly faded as Tara walked in though, and it died completely as the blonde woman shook her head ruefully.

"I tried the locating spell," Tara said softly, "but I couldn't get a definite position. I'm fairly certain that she's still in town though."

Buffy once again sank down into her chair. "Where could she be? She wasn't at the house, or the park, or her school..."

"Or the old high school," Xander added in with a sigh as he followed suit. "Or the Bronze."

"I didn't see her in any of the store or restaurants downtown," Willow said as she slowly lay her head on the table. 

"I checked around with all of my family and friends who are already in town for the wedding, and they all assured me that they hadn't eaten, cursed, or granted wishes to a girl that fit her description, " Anya filled in with a helpful smile.

Silence filled the room as the others tried not to think about what she had just said.

Tara shook her head as she sat down beside Buffy at the table. "Before I tried the spell, I checked out the cemetery, Spike's crypt, and some of the other demon hangouts."

Without warning, the doorway to the basement flung open with a crash, and everyone in the room jumped at the sound. As a familiar vampire walked in, Xander quickly opened his mouth in preparation for a barrage of insults. The words never left his mouth, however, as he -- as well as everyone else in the room -- noticed the young girl that Spike was carrying in his arms. 

Buffy didn't say a word as she walked over and held out her arms. Her eyes widened slightly as she looked at what her sister was wearing, but she didn't say a word as she took her sister in her arms. As he handed Dawn over, she stirred slight and opened her eyes. 

"Buffy?" she asked wearily, a hint of nervousness in her voice.

The Slayer smiled and shook her head. Then she looked over at the vampire and asked the one question that kept popping into her head. "Where did you find her?" she asked firmly.

He looked like he was about to answer, but then he looked down at the young girl that was slowly regaining consciousness. There was a pained look in her eyes as she silently begged him not to tell her sister the entire story. He sighed slowly before nodding and motioning for Buffy to put the girl down and follow him into the back room.

She gave him a curious look but was still quick to follow. She carefully helped Dawn to her feet and looked into her eyes. Her younger sister just looked away, an ashamed look on her face. With one more look, she turned and followed Spike into the room.

"Are you okay?" Willow asked with concern. "Why don't you come over here and sit down?" 

Dawn gave the redhead a thankful smile as she walked over and prepared to sit down. Before she did, though, she was surprised to feel someone place a large jacket over her shoulders. As she sat down, she looked over her shoulder and gave the dark-haired young man standing there a grateful smile.

The smile on her face faded, however, as a loud cry came from the backroom. She could feel everyone's eyes settle on her as Buffy's voice echoed throughout the room. "You found her where?"

The door to the backroom flung open and Buffy stomped over to her sister. With an angry glare, she grabbed the girl by the arm and practically dragged her to her feet. 

"We are going back to the house, so that you can go straight to bed," Buffy said angrily. "After you wake up, you are going to tell me exactly what happened last night. And don't worry about not having enough time. I know that it's a new concept, but you're now grounded for the rest of eternity."

As the two of them quickly disappeared from the room, Xander looked around at the others with a baffled expression on his face. He quickly raised his voice, making sure that the vampire in the back could hear him. "Okay, someone better start explaining." 

Spike walked out of the back, a lit cigarette between his lips. He shrugged once before heading towards the door he had entered from. "You're going to have to ask the Slayer," he called out as the door slammed behind him.


	3. Chapter 3

Dawn opened her eyes gingerly, and was pleasantly surprised to discover that she was at home, in her bed. A sigh escaped her lips before she could stop it, and she slowly pulled herself up into a sitting position. She groaned quietly at the dull ache in her head but didn't say a word. With a worried expression on her face, she looked down at her outfit… and was surprised to see that she was wearing an old, over-sized T-shirt of Buffy's. 

"Was it just a bad dream?" she asked herself quietly.

This was just about to decide that it was, when she realized that there was a warm sunlight streaming through her window. The only time that sunlight came through her window was during the late afternoon. As the realization hit her, she collapsed back down onto her pillow with a stricken look on her face. 

"Oh god, what exactly happened last night?" she asked with a moan.

She jumped slightly as a familiar voice came from the doorway. "I'd really like to know that myself," Buffy said dryly. "Care to fill me in?"

Dawn looked up at her sister with an ashamed expression on her face, sighing softly as she once again pulled herself up into a sitting position. She was careful not to let her gaze meet Buffy's as she spoke.

"I was mad about… everything," she said hesitantly. "Everything and everyone. I just... I don't know. One of my friends told me about this bar where they didn't ask any questions, and I…"

She paused for a moment, obviously trying to think of a way to word what she needed to say next. After a few seconds of silence, she took a deep breath and finished her story as quickly as she could. 

"So I grabbed that outfit from your closet, and then snuck out of the house right after you left to go slaying," she said hurriedly, her eyes watering a bit. "I went to the bar, and then I had a few drinks, and then... and then… and then I woke up in the alley the next morning a few minutes before Spike found me."

Dawn could feel Buffy's eyes on her, and she struggled not to start sobbing. The dull ache between her thighs had faded somewhat, but it was a painful reminder of the blurred events that she had left out. For a few moments there was silence in the room, and then Buffy sighed and dropped down beside her sister on the bed. 

"What happened the rest of the night?" Buffy asked gently, reaching out to push a strand of hair out of Dawn's face.

Dawn reluctantly met Buffy's gaze, and she stared at the disappointment in her sister's eyes for several seconds before letting her eyes fall back down to look at the bed. "It's all blurred," she admitted softly. "I really… I don't know."

Buffy groaned as she brought her hand up to rub her temple. "Do you know how much trouble we could be in because of this?" she asked bitterly. "Social services are already on my case, and if they find out that you snuck out of the house and spent the night doing who knows what at some bar... what the hell were you thinking?"

As her sister's voice rose, Dawn could feel the tears welling up in her eyes. "I don't know what I was thinking," she said, her voice cracking. "I don't know... maybe I just thought that I couldn't take it anymore, so I was trying to find an escape. Unlike you, I can't just go out and beat up on some vamps or demons until I feel better. And I can't run off to L.A. for three months or so and not tell anyone where I am. And I can't..."

Buffy suddenly reached out and placed her hand over Dawn's mouth. She gave the younger girl a gentle smile and shook her head. "You made your point," she said lightly.

Dawn gave her sister a teary smile as she slowly put her arms around her Buffy‘s waist. "I'm sorry about all of this," she said weakly. "I really am. I just… I just didn't think."

She bit her lip slightly as she pulled away, reaching up to wipe away her tears as a teasing expression made its way onto her face. "I'm pretty sure Mom never knew about that outfit I borrowed from you," she said with a weak smile. "And it looked like you'd had it for awhile. Want to tell me where it came from?"

Buffy rolled her eyes before standing up and making her way to the door. "I'll probably tell you in about… never."

Dawn gave her sister a look before slowly letting her head sink back down into the softness of her pillow. She propped herself up on her elbows, though, when Buffy stopped in the doorway and looked back at her. "You do realize that you're grounded, right?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. "Until further notice, you're not allowed to leave the house unless you're going to school, saving the world, or with me."

As Buffy turned and left the room, Dawn collapsed back against her pillow with a moan. "For every crime, there's a punishment," she muttered. "Or, in my case, torture."

She cried out as a small pillow suddenly hit her in the face. Sitting up in her bed, she glared at the familiar form that was once again standing in the doorway. 

"I heard that, you little brat," Buffy said, her eyes twinkling.


	4. Chapter 4

Dawn let out a moan as she slowly pulled herself out of bed. It had been almost two months, and Buffy still hadn't taken away all of her restrictions. God, you would have thought that with Riley coming back with his wife in tow and the almost disaster of Xander and Anya's wedding, she might have at least given her a break. Of course, whatever it was that was going on between her and Spike had definitely affected her mood though...

The teenager's thoughts were abruptly interrupted as she felt a wave of nausea sweep through her. In one motion, she pulled herself out of bed and practically dashed to the bathroom. As quietly as she could, she dropped down in front of the toilet and quickly emptied everything from her stomach into the bowl. After a few minutes of gagging, she slowly stood up, flushed the mess down the drain, and started cleaning herself up.

As she washed her face, she looked at her reflection in the mirror. She could see the almost unnoticeable fear in her eyes as she thought about how many times that she had been sick lately. With a nervous laugh, she quickly turned off the water in the sink, dried her face, and hurried towards her bedroom. 

She stopped for a moment to look at Buffy lying asleep in her bed, looking more peaceful than she had in ages. Please, don't let me be right about what's wrong with me, she prayed silently. Without saying a word, she hurried on down the hall to her room. Dawn quickly threw some clothes on over her head and hurried down the stairs. She wasn't very surprised to see Willow already sitting at the table.

As she hurried into the kitchen and poured her a glass of orange juice, she waved at the redhead. "Willow, tell Buffy 'hi' for me when she wakes up," she said, gulping down her juice as quickly as she could. "I'm running late for school. See you at the Magic Box this afternoon!"

* * *

Several hours later, Dawn hurried down the streets of Sunnydale. She had conveniently forgotten to mention to Buffy that school was going to be released an hour early, but she still didn't want to get there too late just in case Buffy knew about the early release.

Fingering the small wad of dollar bills in her pocket, Dawn hurried into a small convenience store near the magic shop where she was supposed to meet the others. She knew which aisle she was heading towards, but it still took all of her courage to go there. As she stepped onto the aisle, she immediately felt out of place. No, she didn't need to be here. She had to be imagining things. She probably just had a case of the stomach flu or something, nothing to worry about...

Suddenly the familiar feeling of nausea came to her. Having learned from past experiences, she quickly leaned against the shelves and waited for it to pass. A frightened look came to her face as it finally let go. It was impossible. She had her suspicions about what had happened that night at the bar, but still… just the once? She couldn't be… not after just one time. One mistake.

Dawn quickly pushed the thoughts out of her mind as she hurried on down the aisle to pick up what she had came for. As she stepped in front of the pile of them on the shelf, she reached out her hand to pick out a few different boxes. Her hand hesitated over them for just a moment, but she finally grabbed them.

Looking around her to make sure no one was watching, she hurried towards a checkout lane in the back of the store. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that no one was there except for the cashier, a young, raven-haired woman in her mid-twenties. Stepping up to the desk, she tentatively placed her purchases on the counter.

The woman looked at her with a curious expression on her face as she typed in the prices. "That will be $8.32," she said matter-of-factly. "Aren't you a little a bit young to be buying this?"

Dawn shrugged her shoulders as she handed over the money to the woman. She raised her eyebrows slightly as the woman flinched when she touched the cross charm that was on her bracelet. "Aren't you a little undead to be working as a cashier?" she asked, her hand atomically drifting down to the small stake she kept hidden under her jacket.

The vampire gave her a weary smile as she handed over the two small boxes. "Hey, not all of us go around attacking humans," she said. "Some of us live pretty normal lives. A nice, dark apartment, a job to pay for it, fresh blood stolen from the hospital... It's a pretty good unlife, once you get used to it."

Dawn fingered the small stake in her pocket for a moment before turning around and heading towards the exit. "Yeah, I guess that it would be," she said lightly. "At least you don't have to worry about anything like this."

As she walked away, she motioned towards the two small boxes inside her shopping bag. She was slightly surprised to see the vampire smile at her, humor twinkling in her eyes. 

"Yeah, we really don't have much of a use for pregnancy tests."

* * *

Dawn quickly shoved the bag inside of her backpack as she walked into the Magic Box. Buffy was sitting at a table, her head resting on it wearily. Willow and Tara were sitting beside her, quietly talking to each other -- a big improvement over how they had been acting around each other just a few months earlier. She was getting ready to walk over to them when she noticed a deeply tanned couple standing at the counter. 

"Xander! Anya! You're back from your honeymoon!"

Her exclamation caught Buffy's attention, causing her to sit up and look at her watch. A curious expression came to her face as she listened to her sister start talking loudly with the newlyweds. Raising her voice loud enough to be heard over their conversation, she quickly addressed her younger sister. 

"Dawn, is it me, or are you here a little early today?" she asked suspiciously.

Dawn quickly looked up at the clock hanging on a nearby wall. With a sheepish grin she turned to her sister. "Didn't I tell you that school was going to be let out a little early today?" 

Buffy shook her head, a bit of uncertainty in her eyes as she let her head lay back down on the table. 

"No, you didn't," she said tiredly. "At the moment though, I really could care less. Wake me up only if some horrible evil comes walking through the door. And then only if it kills the rest of you."


	5. Chapter 5

Dawn lay on her bed, her eyes focused on a dirty spot of her ceiling. She breathed quietly, making sure that she would be able to hear when Buffy left. As she waited, her hands nervously squeezed the two, small boxes laying beside her. _Please, please, please don't be positive,_ she begged silently. _Please._

After what seemed like hours, even though she knew it had been less than fifteen minutes, she finally heard the downstairs door slam. That meant Buffy had left to go stake some vamps. Shakily, she pulled herself up into a sitting position and looked over at the clock laying on her dresser. Willow wouldn't be home for at least another hour.

Good.

Trying not to think about what she was doing, Dawn slid off of her bed onto the floor. The floor felt cool under her hare feet, but at the moment she didn't care. Like a zombie, she walked towards the bathroom. As she got closer, four words seemed to echo in her thoughts. _Please don't be positive. Please don't be positive._

* * *

_Fear. That's what he could feel, fear. No, not fear... it was more than fear. The child from whom it was emanating from was beyond fear. She was terrified. Terrified that she was right about what was wrong with her. It was like music to his ears._

_Suddenly his eyes opened, and they shone like beacons in the pitch blackness of its surroundings. They were as cold as ice and as red as blood, and they seemed to be as old as time itself. Almost as quickly as they had appeared, they faded away. One thing echoed through the darkness, though. A voice._

_A cold, lifeless voice._

_"Now to make her fear grow into terror."_

* * *

Dawn sat cross-legged on the bathroom floor, her eyes closed and tears streaming down her face. The pregnancy tests were laying on the sink, and she was trying not to think about how, in just a few minutes, she would find out if her life had changed forever. 

She had read the box carefully, making sure that she knew exactly how to use them. It had seemed simple... just follow the directions and wait for the test to change colors. Blue meant that she was fine, and red...

Dawn teenager cringed slightly as she thought about what red meant.

After she was sure that more than enough time had passed, Dawn slowly pulled herself up from the floor. Her breath was coming in quick, short breaths, and she felt like she was about to die. 

"Actually,"she whispered with a wry grin, "I might really die if this test turns out positive.”

The grin on her face slowly faded as she realized what she was saying. With a scared moan, she quickly hurried over to the sink. Once again, the same four words echoed through her mind, except this time, there seemed to be an added emphasis on them. _Please don't be positive. Please don't be positive._

Knowing that she couldn't put it off any longer, Dawn reached over to the sink and grabbed the finished tests. Her eyes slowly widened as she looked at them. Without warning, laughter suddenly burst from her lips. The tests dropped from her hands as she sank down to her knees still laughing uncontrollably. 

They both were red.


	6. Chapter 6

Willow fiddled with her key, trying her best to get the door open. With an irritated groan, she finally collapsed onto the porch steps. "Why do these things always happen to me?" she muttered angrily.

"What things always happen to you, Will?" a familiar voice from in front of her asked.

The red haired woman shot her head up, a surprised look on her face. The surprise quickly faded though as she saw who was standing there. 

"Buffy?" A puzzled expression appeared on her face. "You're home early, aren't you?"

The Slayer shrugged her shoulder as she walked past her friend. She pulled a key out of her pocket and quickly opened the door. "I guess so," she said, shrugging. "There didn't seem to be that much evil out there tonight."

Buffy stopped in the doorway and looked back at her friend. An apprehensive expression slowly made its way onto her face. "You know, now that I think about it... that's not such a good thing," she said worriedly. "If this follows usual patterns, we‘ll be getting some major badness pretty soon."

Willow nodded her head wearily as she followed Buffy into the house. "Yeah, that's the way it usually goes," she agreed. "You want some coffee?"

The Slayer pulled her jacket off and tossed it onto a nearby chair as she started up the stairs. "I'm going to go and check on Dawn, and then I'll take you up on your offer. Coffee is really sounding like a good idea right around now."

Willow smiled as she walked into the kitchen. As she fiddled with the coffeemaker, she listened to the sound of Buffy walking around upstairs. After a few minutes had passed, however, a curious expression appeared on her face. The footsteps sounded almost like Buffy was running, and she was sure that she had heard her friend call out something.

She lay the packet of coffee on the table and stepped out of the kitchen. "Is everything okay up there, Buffy?" 

The redhead jumped slightly as Buffy came running down the stairs and grabbed her jacket. Without even turning her head around, the Slayer hurried to the door and opened it.

"Dawn's not here," Buffy said, her voice more irritated than worried. "Call the guys and tell them to meet us at the Magic Box."

As the door slammed behind her, Willow gave another tired grin. Hurrying to the phone, an exasperated laugh burst from her lips. 

"Whenever there's a calm in the storm, it just comes back even more violent that before," she muttered. "Just another plus of living on the Hellmouth, I guess."

* * *

Dawn pulled her jacket closer to her as she hurried along the darkening streets. Tears were streaming down her face as she hurried along. She didn't know where she was going, but she did know that she couldn't be at her house right then. 

She couldn't face her sister.

A muffled scream escaped her lips as two strong arms suddenly grabbed her, pulling her into the shadows of one of Sunnydale's many alleys. Spinning around, she found herself looking into the eyes of a handsome young man probably no older than eighteen. Her eyes narrowed slightly, however, as she looked at him closely. 

Twisting her hand from his grip, she made thrust the cross on her bracelet up against his face. As he cried out in pain, she yanked herself from his grip and started running. Her head twisted around for just a moment as she glared back at him. "It served you right, vamp."

That moment cost her just enough time, however, for the vampire to catch hold of her jacket. Giving up all pretense of humanity, he let his game face show... seconds before he sank his teeth into her neck.

* * *

Spike's eyes narrowed as a someone nearby suddenly let out a cry of fear and pain. The sound was vaguely familiar, as if it was coming from someone he knew. He was already making his way toward the alley where it was coming from when realization dawned on him. Letting out a string of curses in several different languages, he quickly increased his pace into a run. Fire flashed in his eyes as he remembered that Dawn wasn't even supposed to be out at night.

"After I save her, I'm going to kill her."

Just as he reached the alley, the vampire that was holding the teenager leaned down and sank his teeth into her pale neck. With an animal-like roar, Spike flung himself at them... forcing the vamp to let Dawn drop as he tried to get out of the way. 

Without even stopping to think, the Spike pounced on the younger vampire. As the both fell to the ground, he pulled out a stake and stuck it right through the other vamp's heart. A few seconds later, he slowly stood up -- dusting himself off as he did so -- and glared in Dawn's direction. 

Spike stomped over to where she lay on the ground and jerked the young teen to her feet. He was completely prepared to start ranting... until he saw the tears streaming down her face. 

A curious expression appeared on his face as he stared at the girl in front of him. There was something different about her, but he couldn't tell what exactly. "Nibblet?" he asked quietly, questions burning in his eyes.

When she didn‘t look up, Spike gently reached out and tilted her head up so that he could see her face clearly. "Dawn?"

Dawn reluctantly glanced up at him, a million thoughts running through her mind. There were only a few people she would trust her life with... and he was one of them. Tears still streaming down her face, she slowly took a shuddery breath and looked him directly in the eyes. In a weak, trembling voice, barely more than a whisper, she started talking. 

"There's something you need to know," she said, her voice cracking as she spoke.


	7. Chapter 7

Spike stood absolutely still for a moment, his mouth practically hanging open in shock. After what seemed like eternity to Dawn, he let out a pained sound and leaned back against the alley's wall. 

"Bloody hell."

The teenager looked up at him with tears welling in her eyes once again. She could sense all of the emotions in his voice: the anger, the disappointment... the sudden urge to murder someone.

When he finally let his gaze drift back toward her, there was glint in his eyes that could only be described as homicidal. In a slow, dangerous voice, he asked the question that she had wanted with all her might to keep in the dark. "Do you know who he was?"

Dawn looked down at the ground for a moment, trying to figure out exactly how to word her answer. Finally she took a deep breath and looked directly into his eyes. She could hear the tremble in her voice as she quietly answered. 

"No," she said weakly. "I don‘t… I don‘t actually remember much about that night. I'm pretty sure it was consensual on my part, but other than that…"

The vampire once again let out something that resembled a moan as he closed his eyes and tenderly rubbed his brow. "Damn."

* * *

Just as she had two months earlier, Buffy paced nervously in the middle of the Magic Box. This time, however, her eyes were full of anger and hurt instead of worry. 

"What the hell am I going to do with her?" Buffy ranted. "She promised that she wouldn't pull a stunt like this. God, am I ever going to be able to trust her again?"

With a worried sigh, the Slayer collapsed into a nearby chair and promptly buried her head in her arms. Anya looked at Buffy helplessly for a moment before giving her husband a quick shove in her direction.

"Go and do something to make her feel better!" she whispered loudly. "Just don't have sex with her. That‘s not allowed."

A surprised expression appeared on Xander's face, but he quickly replaced it with one of concern. He placed his hands on Buffy's shoulders and did his best to try and reassure her. 

"Come on, this is Dawn that we're talking about," he said reassuringly. "She probably had a good reason to disappear. I mean, when you had a good reason when you ran off. You know, with the whole ‘my boyfriend is a big, bad murdering vampire that I have to kill and...' I'm not going to try and help anymore."

Buffy pulled her head out of her arms and gave her friend a weak smile. "That's probably a good idea, Xander," she said lightly. "A few more minutes of that, and I'd be letting out all of my frustrations over Dawn on you." 

The door suddenly flung open, and the three occupants of the room shot their heads towards it. Their disappointment was obvious to the two young women who walked into the room, but they both chose to ignore it. Tara gave them an apologetic look as she pulled off her jacket. 

"I got some results from the spell," she said, shaking her head, "but there were some... difficulties."

With a worried look on her face, Buffy pulled herself to her feet. "What kind of difficulties, Tara? She is still okay, isn't she?"

Tara quickly nodded her head, doing her best to try and not alarm the Slayer any more than she already had. "I‘m fairly certain that she‘s fine," she said gently. "I'm just getting a few... discrepancies when I tried the spell. It was almost like..."

A troubled expression appeared on her face as a thought crossed her mind, and Willow quickly reached out to lay a hand on her shoulder. "Tara, are you okay?"

The young witch quickly shook her head as she leaned against the wall. "Yeah, I'm fine. I was just... thinking about what might have caused the problems I had with the spell. I guess I was thinking a little too hard."

She gave them a reassuring smile. With a shaky sigh she looked at the redhead standing beside her and motioned with her eyes. Willow gave her an understanding nod as she turned back to the others. 

"I checked around, without using any magic," she said tiredly, "but I couldn't find a trace of her."

"Is it just me or does this seem a little familiar?" Xander asked curiously. "And I don't mean, ‘didn't something happen a few years ago in some movie that vaguely resembled this' kind of familiar. It's more of a ‘this is almost exactly the same as what happened two months ago' kind of familiar."

Anya wrapped her arms around his waist and smiled gently. "Of course honey, whatever you say," she said, obviously attempting to placate him. "I'm sure that everyone else sees just what you're talking about."

"I'm going to have to agree with Xander on this one," Buffy said tiredly.

Xander shook his head. "It's almost exactly like what happened last time," he said. "I wouldn't be very surprised if Captain Peroxide came walking through the door in a few minutes, carrying Dawn in his arms..."

"Now where would you ever get an idea like that," Spike said as he walked into the room, pushing the missing teenager in front of him as he came. "Just because some vampire decided to take a little bite out of--"

"Spike!" Dawn hissed, shooting him a dirty look as everyone's eyes immediately turned to the bloody handkerchief she was holding to her neck. "It's not even enough of a bite to cause a scar."

Spike shook his head, but he carefully drew the conversation away from the topic. "I was just walking around, minding my own business, and I came across the ‘Lil Bit here," he said casually. "I‘m guessing that she‘s the reason all of you are gathered here."

Buffy shot him an exasperated look before stomping over to where they were standing. "Come on Dawn, we're going back to the house and this time you're going to be grounded for a lot longer that three months," she said coldly. "I think that ‘for the rest of your life' is a good place to start. What the hell were..."

She trailed off suddenly as Spike grabbed her arm. "You better hold it there, luv," he said warningly. "The Nibblet here has something she wants to tell you, and I think that it might be safer if you find out now."

"Safer for me, at least," Dawn muttered weakly, drawing an uncertain look from her sister. "I think that we need to go in the back for me to tell you this."

She turned and started walking towards the back room before turning back to look at her sister. "One thing Buffy... after I tell you this, please don't kill me."

At those words, the Slayer's eyes widened even more, and -- after sharing a worried look with both Willow and Tara -- she hurried after Dawn. As the door shut behind them, Spike pulled out a cigarette and put it up to his lips. Ignoring the incredulous looks on the others' faces, he merely lighted it and took in a few breaths. The worried expression on his face was enough to let them know that something was terribly wrong though.

But they didn't have much time to ponder over what it might be. 

Less than a minute after the two of them entered the backroom, the eerie stillness of the Magic Box was broken by a loud shattering coming from the back room. Xander, Anya, Tara, and Willow shared a quick look before dashing towards the back, leaving Spike to slowly pull the cigarette away from his lips. 

"Well, it sounds like the Slayer took it better than I would have thought," he said dryly.

Flicking the cigarette to the floor, he carefully ground it underneath his foot. Taking in a shaky breath, even though he didn't actually need it, he then followed the others. There was a murderous glint in his eyes though. Dawn had said that she didn't know who the guy was, but when he found out...

It might give him a hell of a headache, but he wasn't going to let that bloody chip in his head stop him. No, not in the least bit.


	8. Chapter 8

When the Scoobies quickly opened the door to the back room, they were met by a sight that none of them were prepared for. Dawn was leaning against the wall, tears silently streaming down her face as she stared at her sister... who was on her knees in the middle of the room, a shocked look frozen on her face. For a moment they just stood in the doorway, unsure of what to say, especially since they had no clue what was going on.

After what seemed like hours to them, even though it had barely been five minutes, Buffy seemed to slip out of whatever spell she had been under. She blinked twice and then seemed to notice her friends standing in the doorway. The shocked look on her face slowly faded away and was replaced by a determined one.

Buffy took a deep breath as she pulled herself to her feet and walked over to her sister. "Come on," she said weakly. "Let's get home."

Dawn looked up at her sister with teary eyes and slowly nodded her head. She then took a shaky breath and glanced past her sister to the group standing in the doorway. For a moment she stood there staring, studying each of their faces. 

It was obvious that Xander had no clue what was going on, and his wife didn't seem to be much better, considering the fact that they were wearing identical confused expressions on their faces. After mentally summing up what they knew, the teenager slowly turned her eyes towards Willow. The redhead was wearing a slightly puzzled look on her face, but it was obvious that she had a few guesses on what was going on... and they probably weren't that far off. 

She then turned her gaze to Tara. 

When she looked into the witch's eyes, Dawn felt her heart freeze for a moment. There was no mistaking the worried glint in her eyes. She knew.

Dawn took another shaky breath as she let her gaze catch Tara's. Without saying a word, she answered the question that was burning in the witch's eyes. As soon as she did, Tara quickly choked back a gasp. At the sound, the others quickly turned around to look at her.

The teenager quietly walked over to Buffy and looked her in the eyes. "Can we go home, Buffy?" she asked weakly. "Now? Spike knows everything, and I'm pretty sure that Tara's figure out most of it."

Buffy finally noticed just how much Dawn was trembling, and she quickly reached out to steady her. "Spike, tell them what's going on," she said firmly. "I'm taking Dawn home."

* * *

As the door closed behind Buffy, Spike found himself quickly surrounded. Anya and Willow both stood in front of him with expectant looks on their faces, and Xander was trying his best to look threatening. The vampire merely raised an eyebrow. After a few moments passed without Spike telling them anything, Xander finally sighed. 

"Are you going to tell us what's going on or not?" he asked, a combination of worry and irritation in his voice.

Before the blonde vampire had a chance to answer, Tara slowly walked past Xander and faced Spike. "Is she pregnant?" she asked matter-of-factly.

At that, Xander let out a short bark of laughter. "Yeah right. Dawn, pregnant? Like that would ever happen. She's just a little kid." He glanced over Spike. "So, what's really wrong?"

The laughter quickly died on his lips as Spike kept his mouth shut and looked away. His eyes widened in shock as he realized what the vampire was telling him. Willow's face was frozen, her eyes already widening in shock. Tara, meanwhile, was looking down at the ground. 

Anya was the only one who didn't seem upset by the news. A pout was slowly forming on her lips as she turned to her husband. "This isn't fair. I'm the one who's married, so I should be the on who's pregnant. Why does she get to have a baby before us? Doesn't that seem a little unfair?"

As she noticed the looks the others were sending in her direction, she determinedly placed her hands on her hips.

"Why are you staring at me like that?" she asked. "What did I say?"

Ignoring Anya's question, Willow glanced back at Spike. "From two months ago?" she asked weakly. "Is that when she…"

He finally looked back at them. "Yeah," he acknowledged. "That's what she said, at least. She doesn't remember much about it, though."

"Was she raped?" Tara asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

At that, Anya blanched and most of the color drained from her face as she suddenly understood the others' reactions from a few minutes earlier. Xander reached over to gently squeeze her arm, but he didn't move his gaze from Spike. "Was she?" he asked, his own voice shaky.

"She doesn't think so," Spike said, looking away from them once again. "Like I said, though, she doesn't exactly remember much about that night."

No one said a word after that.


	9. Chapter 9

Buffy held her hand over the buttons of the phone for a moment, unsure of exactly what she would say once the call went through. It had been almost a week since Dawn's unexpected announcement, and the Slayer had been doing a fairly well job of putting off the inevitable. 

Until now.

With a weary sigh she slowly dialed the number. As it rang, she hoped with all her might that he wouldn't be home. 

She wasn't so lucky. 

Her breath caught in her throat as the familiar voice answered the phone with an irritated, "Hello?"

For a moment she wasn't sure what to say. She stood there for a moment, not saying a word. She could hear him on the phone, asking who was there. His voice was sounding more and more exasperated, and it was obvious to her that he was going to hang up the phone if she didn't say anything.

"Giles, it's me," she said weakly.

* * *

Rupert Giles was standing there, the phone against his ear and a cup of tea in his hand. There was an irritated look on his face, and he looked like he was about to throw his phone out of the nearest window. He had been having trouble with prank calls for the last several weeks, and they were starting to become more than a little tiresome.

"For the last time, tell me who you are," he said crossly.

After it became apparent that no one was going to answer him, he made as if to hang up the phone. Before he could, though, a familiar voice suddenly spoke up.

"Giles, it's me."

He started as he recognized Buffy's voice, and his eyes widened as he listened to the slight tremble in his Slayer's voice. She had only said three words, but those three words had been enough to tell him that something was dreadfully wrong. She sounded lost, confused, shocked... and uncertain. "Buffy, what's wrong?"

For a moment he wasn't sure that she was even still on the phone, but then he heard a shaky gulp. As she slowly started talking, he felt his eyes widen. Without even thinking about it, he sank into a nearby chair. When she stopped for a moment, obviously trying to think of what to say next, he pulled off his glasses and slowly started to clean them. "Dear lord," he muttered.

A few minutes later, he was still sitting in the same place. Buffy had finished her story a few moments earlier, and he was at a loss for words. He wanted to do nothing more than to hold her close to him and say that everything was going to turn out fine. However, at the moment that didn't seem to be an option. 

He was suddenly pulled out of his thoughts by her voice coming from the phone. She wanted to know what to do, where to turn, how to deal... She had no clue what to do. Suddenly she asked a question that he had not even thought about. "Giles, what am I going to do about Social Services? They'll take Dawn away from me, I know that they will. What am I going to do?"

As soon as she finished talking, he knew that he couldn't just sit around in London doing nothing. He just couldn't. With a weary sigh, he stood up. "Buffy, Dawn should be getting out of school for summer soon, am I right? I suggest that you send her somewhere for a few weeks - perhaps Los Angeles - until we can figure out what to do. I will see what I can do here. As soon as I find something to help, I will head for Sunnydale."

* * *

Buffy picked up the phone and started to dial, but after four numbers she placed it back down. God, this was going to be even harder than calling Giles. What was she going to say? Oh, hi Angel. This is Buffy. My fifteen-year-old sister is pregnant, she doesn't know who the father is, and Social Services will probably take her away from me when they find out... Can she come stay with you until we figure out what to do?

She gave a quiet sigh and once again picked up the phone. This time, however, she dialed the entire number. After several rings, an fairly familiar British voice picked up the phone. A small smile crossed her face as she listened to Wesley talk for a moment. For a moment she had forgotten that Angel had his own 'gang' in L.A.

As Wesley finished his little speech about Angel Investigations, Buffy took a deep breath. This was going to be difficult. "Hi Wesley, I need to talk to Angel. It's Buffy, by the way."

* * *

When he heard the voice on the other end of the phone, Wesley knew in an instant who it was. He could hear the pain in her voice though. "One second, Buffy. Let me try and find him."

He covered the phone with his hand and looked around the room. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Cordelia walking nearby, carrying a sleeping Connor in her arms. "See if you can find Angel somewhere... Buffy is on the phone."

Cordy's eyes widened slightly when she heard him, but she nodded and started towards the stairs. She lay the sleeping baby in his crib and headed to find his father. The former Scooby knew very well where to find him. 

A few minutes later, Wesley found himself handing the phone over to Angel. The vampire listened to the Slayer talk for a moment before saying a word. When he did talk, however, it came as quite a surprise to the two people standing near him. 

"Dawn is what!? How? When? Two months... My god, Buffy. Are you okay? Is she okay? Yeah, I understand. No, of course it won't be a problem. Of course, she'll be no trouble. Yeah, we can fix all of the details later. Goodbye."

As Angle lay the phone down, he turned to Wesley and Cordelia with a shocked look on his face. "Dawn's going to be staying with us for a few weeks once she gets out of school. Guys... she's pregnant."

In moments, all three of them were wearing identical expressions of shock on their faces. They were still like that several minutes later when Gunn and Fred came walking through the door, talking and laughing. When they saw their friends standing beside the phone, Gunn grinned in their direction. "Hey guys, what's up? Guys? Uh, guys?"


	10. Chapter 10

Dawn stood in front of Buffy, her hands on her hips and a scowl on her face. "No! I refuse to go to L.A. and stay with that... that... God Buffy, I don't want to go and stay with Angel!"

The Slayer took a deep breath and quietly counted to ten in her head. After several moments had passed, she answered her sister in a rather cold voice. "I really don't care what you want or don't want, Dawnie. You should have thought about the consequences before you went out and..."

She held up her hand as Dawn started to speak. "I'm not finished yet. As I was saying, you should have thought of the consequences. Since you didn't, we are both going to have to consider the future. Such as, for example, how to make sure that Social Services don't take you away from me."

Dawn looked down at her feet for a moment, obviously startled by what her sister had said. She slowly looked up with a cold look on her face. "Fine then, I'll go and stay with him. One thing though... I want to hear what Xander and Spike think about it first."

Buffy looked at her sister for a moment, an annoyed look in her eyes. However, she gave a sigh and shook her head. "Whatever you say. But, even when they throw a fit, you have to go to L.A."

* * *

Buffy rolled her eyes slightly as she listened to the raving coming from vampire in front of her. She shot Willow a hopeful glance but was met with an uncertain shrug. With a sigh, she started listening to Spike‘s complaints. Again. "Bloody hell! Are you crazy, Slayer!? You want to send the Nibblet off to stay with Peaches!? In Los Angeles!? Starting in three weeks!? That has to be the craziest, most ridiculous..."

Xander gave the Slayer a slightly incredulous stare. "As much as I hate to admit it, Buff, I have to agree with the Bleached Wonder here. Are you out of your mind!? You want to send Dawn to stay with Dead Boy?"

"Oh. Oh. But she won't just be with Angel. I mean, Cordelia's there. And Wesley. And... Um... Shoot, what's his name... Oh yeah, Gunn. And Fred. Oh, and that demon guy... Um... Lorne, or the Host, or whatever they call him. I mean, Angel has his own team now, and I'm not really being very helpful here, am I?" Willow gave a sheepish grin as she stopped rambling.

Xander waved his arms enthusiastically at his best friend‘s words. "See! See! You want to send her to stay with Dead Boy, Cordy, Wesley, Gunn, Fred, and some demon guy named Lorne... Wait a sec. Who's Gunn, Fred, and this demon guy named Lorne?" 

Buffy took a deep sigh and looked around the room. Spike and Xander both looked like they were ready to kill someone. Willow, on the other hand, looked like she agreed whole-heartedly with Buffy's plan. Tara was giving her a sympathetic smile, obviously not seeing why the two men were throwing a fit. Anya was sitting behind the cash register, counting money and obviously not at all concerned with what was going on around her. And Dawn was... 

The teenage girl was quietly sneaking towards the back room. However, she, as well as most of the other people in the room, jumped when Buffy suddenly yelled, "Dawn Summers, get back here right now! If you think you're going to just sneak away, you're crazy!"

Shooting her sister an icy glare, Dawn walked back over to the Scoobies. Her eyes were flashing with anger as she spoke to her sister, a forced calm in the words. "I don't want to go to L.A. for the summer. Why can't I just stay here in Sunnydale? It's not like I have something to hide. I'm pregnant, so what? If my friends all think I'm some sort of freak, so what? It's not like I went crazy one time and got raped by some guy I don't even remember, right? Well, right?"

By now there were angry tears shining in her eyes. Willow moved forwards to put her arm around Dawn's shoulder, but she merely shrugged it off. "Leave me alone! I just want to be treated normally! Don't you get it!? Don't any of you get it!?"

A nearly hysterical look was slowly coming into Dawn's eyes as she sank down to her knees. She quietly continued talking, her words breaking every few moments as she tried to not break into sobs. "I made a mistake. I know that. God, I understand why you're sending me away. You want to make sure that I'm safe from Social Services. I get that. You're still sending me away though. You're still sending me away."

Her reserves broke as the teenager burst into sobs. For a moment, the Scoobies just stood around looking at each other helplessly. Slowly, Buffy sank down to her knees beside her sister. With a tender smile she wrapped her arms around Dawn and let her sob. Willow and Xander glanced at each other for a moment before slowly kneeling themselves and placing their hands on the young girl's back.

Tara slowly walked over behind Buffy and placed her hand on the Slayer's back. Buffy looked up for a moment and shot her a grateful smile. Anya then sighed and stood up. With a slightly irritated look on her face, she walked over to the others. As she knelt down beside Xander, she opened her mouth to speak. "I don't see what the big deal is. I mean, so Dawn got drunk, had sex with some guy, and is now pregnant. Is that any reason for us to make a big scene in full view of the door where any potential customers might..."

Xander quickly placed his hand over his wife's mouth and gave her a quick look. "Ahn, honey, trust me on this. You really don't want to finish that sentence."

Dawn's sobbing slowly stopped as a weak shudder went through her body. Without looking up, a quiet whisper came from her lips. "She's right though. I shouldn't be making such a big deal about going to stay with Angel."

She looked up with a tearstained face. Her eyes were red from tears, but there was now a faint look of compliance in it. She slowly looked around the room and caught Spike's gaze for just a moment. He could see the question in her eyes and slowly gave a nod. A weak grin came to her face as she stared at him. Then she looked up at her sister. "Okay then, I guess I'm going to L.A. One thing though..."

* * *

Cordy gently held Conner as she sat beside Angel on his bed. They both looked down at the sleeping infant for a moment, a simple peace spreading over them. Slowly though, Cordy looked over at Angel. "When are you going to tell them?"

The vampire looked over at her for a moment, an uncertain look on his face. "I guess they'll find out when Dawn gets here. God, I hope that Buffy isn't the one who's going to bring her here. I really do."


	11. Chapter 11

Dawn let out a loud sigh as she looked over at the vampire sitting in the driver's seat of the car. He gave her a quick glance before turning his attention back to the road. "Don't you dare give me that look, Nibblet. I refuse to stay in L.A. Hell, I really have no idea why I'm even driving you there in the first place."

The teen gave a sigh and looked down at the almost unnoticeable bulge of her stomach. "You know very well why you're the one driving me. Number one, I'm not suicidal, so Buffy driving me is out of the question. Number two, if Buffy's out of the picture, then Xander would be next in line. Now, I wouldn't mind letting him drive me... if I only knew that he wouldn't kill a certain vampire with a soul who I'm staying with once we got to L.A. That would leave either Anya - who can't drive, Willow - who ended up getting my arm broke the last time she drove, or Tara - who doesn't like to drive. Which leaves, of course, letting Angel or Cordy or Wesley or someone I don't even know come and get me... Need I say more, Spike?"

The former 'Big Bad' didn't even bother to say a word. He merely gave the girl beside him a grin and turned his eyes back to the road. They both knew very well why he had agreed to drive her to L.A.

Dawn looked out the darkened window at the shadowy scenery that was flashing by the car at eighty miles an hour. She let out a quiet sigh as she sank down in her seat and let her tired eyes close. "Wake me up when we get close to L.A."

* * *

Fred gave a tired sigh as she looked around the quiet building. How could everything have changed so quickly? Just a few weeks earlier, the building had been full of laughter and happiness, but now... 

She quietly choked back a sob as she buried her head in her arms. For a minute she sat there, her mind moving back to the months of happiness she had found with her new friends. Angel, Cordelia, Wesley, Connor...

Fred suddenly gave out a cry and shot her head up as she felt two strong hands being placed on her shoulders. She spun around and found herself facing a familiar face. "Don't do that! You almost gave me a heart attack!"

Gunn gave her a sympathetic smile as he sat down beside her. He let his eyes sweep over the room, just as she had done a few minutes earlier. "Sorry Fred, I thought you heard me. I mean, since it's been so quiet in here."

He slowly lay his arm over her shoulder. She gave him a weak smile and quietly leaned against him. For a moment they sat there silently, both of them obviously thinking about all that had taken place during the brief time they had known each other. After a few minutes, however, Fred suddenly pulled away from him - a shocked look on her face.

Gunn looked over at her in surprise, a startled look in his eyes. He opened his mouth to ask what was wrong but never had the chance. As if she could read his mind, Fred looked him in the eyes and answered his unspoken question. "Wasn't that girl... um... Dawn - or whatever her name is - supposed to come to stay here today? You know, the Slayer's sister..."

* * *

Dawn opened her eyes tentatively, expecting to see the bright lights of Los Angeles shining through the car's filthy windows. However, she was surprised to see that the car was parked in front of a small gas station in - apparently - the middle of nowhere. With a tired yawn, she pulled herself into a sitting position and carefully slipped her seatbelt off.

With a curious look on her face, she rolled down the car's window and looked towards the gas station. Spike was standing inside, talking to a teenager behind the counter. 

She quietly gave another yawn as she hopped out of the car and walked towards the door. The grin that had appeared on her face started to fade, however, as soon as she opened the door and heard what Spike was saying. "What do you mean by 'it looks like we aren't going anywhere tonight'!?"

The blonde-haired vampire spun around at the sound of her voice, a slightly startled expression on his face. "Nibblet, what are you doing in here?"

Dawn gave him a look and then started walking over towards him. "Like I said before, Spike, what did you mean by 'it looks like we aren't going anywhere tonight'? And I would like a real answer."

The young man standing behind the counter gave a quick look at Dawn and raised his eyebrows just a bit, obviously appreciating what he was seeing. "From what I saw inside that car's engine," he said with a smirk, "I'm surprised that it didn't die a long time before now. That thing is a piece of junk."  
Dawn gave an exasperated sigh and looked down at her watch. When she read the time on it, she quickly looked over at the guy behind the counter. "Do you have a phone around here somewhere?"

The cashier pointed towards the door, obviously indicating that the phone was outside. With a nod of thanks, she turned towards Spike. "I'm going to go call Angel and tell him where we are. You are going to figure out how we're going to get to L.A. - and your plan better not include calling any of your... um... slightly non-human friends to come and pick us up."

As the door closed behind her, the cashier looked over at Spike with a nervous look on his face. "What exactly did she mean by 'slightly non-human friends'?"

The blonde-haired vampire merely grinned at the human. "Trust me, mate, you really don't want to find out. Now, let's try and figure out a way to fix my car."

* * *

About a half-hour later, Dawn quietly set the phone back into its holder. There was a slightly dazed expression on her face, and she looked like she was about to faint. With a quiet gulp, she quietly walked back towards the door to the gas station.

When she walked in the door, she didn't even looked towards Spike. She merely walked over to a rickety-looking chair and sat down. Her eyes were looking down at the floor, and for a moment she looked like she might start crying.

Spike took one look at her and hurried over to her side. With a worried look on his face, he gently pushed her face up so that his eyes were looking into hers. "What's wrong, pet?"

She took a deep breath before answering in a quiet, uncertain voice. "We're not going to Los Angeles, Spike. We're going back to Sunnydale."

The vampire's eyes widened in surprise at the young girl's words, and it took him a minute to reply. "What the bloody hell do you mean by that?"  
Dawn looked away from him for a moment, and let her eyes scan the room. She let them stop on the cashier, who was obviously trying to hear their conversation. She nodded pointedly at him. Spike nodded and then turned around to face the young man. "Go and check on our car again. See if there's something you can do to fix it."

The teenager opened his mouth to complain, but the look in Spike's eyes made the words catch in his throat. He walked towards the door, muttering a few curses under his breath as he went. As soon as he walked out of the door, the vampire looked back at Dawn. "Now, tell me what's going on."

Dawn took a deep breath before looking Spike in the eyes. "First of all, you probably need to sit down to hear this. Okay then, I guess I should start at the beginning. I just finished talking to one of Angel's friends, some girl named Fred. Well... First of all... God Spike, did you know that Angel had a son!?"

At those words, Spike's eyes practically bulged out of his head. "What!? How the bloody hell could he have a son! Damnit... Who's the mother?"

The teenage girl once again looked away from him for a minute, obviously trying to think of what to say next. After a few minutes, she looked back at him. "Darla's the mother. Angel and Darla had a human son, named Connor, last fall. Anyways, a few weeks ago, Connor was kidnapped, and..."


	12. Chapter 12

Buffy quickly scrambled for the house keys as the sound of the telephone ringing reached her ears. As she did, the Slayer quickly looked down at her watch and mentally cursed whoever was calling her house this late - no, make it this early. With a loud sigh, she jammed the key into the lock and gave it a quick turn. Her eyes quickly widened, however, as the key broke in her hand - leaving half of it still in the door. "Damn!"

As she stood there fuming, a quiet laughter suddenly came from behind her. With her eyes flaming, the young woman spun around to find herself facing... Willow and Tara. The red-haired witch was shaking with quiet laughter, and her blonde-haired lover wasn't far behind. Buffy rolled her eyes in exasperation before nodding her head towards the house, where the telephone was still ringing. "Can you finish your laughing after you get this door open? The phone is ringing you know..."

Tara grinned at her before pointing her finger at the door and muttering a few words under her breath. A white light shot from her fingers and lit up the lock, causing the broken key to shoot out onto the ground. Then, with a quiet bang, the door shot open. Buffy shot her a thankful look before running to pick up the phone. Without pausing to breathe, she picked it up and answered. "Hello?"

* * *

Dawn was just about to hang up the phone when, with a loud click, her sister answered it. The teen quickly shot a look towards Spike, who was once again arguing with the gas station attendant. When he didn't look at her, she shrugged gently and started talking to her sister. "Hi Buffy - it's Dawn... No, we're not in L.A. yet. Why not? Well, I guess that you could say that we've run into a slight problem."

* * *

With a sigh, Willow motioned for Tara to go on up towards their bedroom as Buffy's voice slowly started to rise. Then, as her lover started up the stairs, the red-haired woman quietly headed towards the doorway to the kitchen. When she reached it, she stood there listening to Buffy's side of the conversation.

"Dawn, what do you mean by 'we've run into a slight problem?' No, I don't want Spike to tell me what's going on - I want you to. Yeah, I guess that you can too. No, I really don't think that I want to sit down. Yeah, I'm really sure that I don't. Fine then... What about Angel? He has a what!?!?!?!?"

Willow flinched slightly as Buffy's voice rose into a loud yell/scream. As soon as she had yelled that one sentence, however, her voice dropped back into a whisper as she sank into a nearby chair. "How the hell does he have son?"

At those words, Willow let out an almost unnoticeable gasp. Angel, with a son? After a few moments of silence in the room, Buffy finally started talking again. This time, however, the red-haired woman gave the Slayer's words her full concentration.

"Okay, so there was a prophecy. That doesn't really tell me much, Dawnie. What else do I want to know? I don't know, how about the name of the mother? Yes Dawn, I am sitting down now. Good? Why did you just say good? Yeah, I remember Darla. The Master sired her, and then she sired Angel... right? Okay then, why did you bring her up? Didn't Angel stake her a few years ago? Yes, I do know about Wolfram and Hart. They brought Darla back to life last year? Okay, fine... You still haven't told me why you brought her up. She's the what!?!?!?!? What do you mean by 'she's the mother'?"

Buffy's eyes were wide, and there was a fire flaming in them. Her skin was slowly growing more and more pale, and for a moment Willow was scared that her friend was going to either burst into tears or faint. After a moment though, the Slayer seemed to compose herself. "Okay then, Angel and Darla have a son named Connor. Fine... Now, I'm pretty sure that you weren't talking about that when told me that there was a problem. So, what's wrong?"

* * *

Dawn took a deep breath at her sister's question. She had been hoping to put off this part of their conversation until Spike could come and take the phone from her, but at the moment it looked like she was going to have to keep talking to Buffy.

The teenager shot another quick look towards Spike, but once again he was 'talking' to the young man inside the gas station. Dawn flinched just a little as he rolled his hand into a fist and shook it into the young man's face. God, he knew very well that he couldn't hurt a human. What was he trying to do, get himself shot or arrested or something?

She quietly rolled her eyes before turning her attention back towards what she was going to tell her sister. With a quiet sigh, she placed the phone close to her face once again. "Well, a few weeks ago Connor was kidnapped..."

* * *

Buffy's eyes widened once again, and she clutched the phone even more tightly. Willow couldn't help but silently pray as the Slayer clenched her fist around the phone. It looked like it was about to break in her hand. Her attention left the phone, however, as soon as Buffy started talking again.

"Angel's son was kidnapped? How? Wesley did what!? That's impossible, he wouldn't do something like that. Because I know him, that's why... He didn't? Then why did you say that he did? He was tricked into helping them? How could he be... Oh, they planted a fake prophecy... Well, how did Angel handle that? Uh-huh... He did what!? What do you mean he tried to kill him while he was still in the hospital!? Wait a sec... Why was Wesley in the hospital? Someone slit his throat!?"

At those words, Willow let out a loud gasp. Buffy's mind was so far away though, that she didn't even notice that she was being eavesdropped on. Her face had once again gone pale, and she was clutching the phone so tightly that it looked like it was about to break in two.

"Is he okay? Good... Why won't I believe what happened next? Dawn, what haven't you told me? Connor was taken to a demon dimension!? My god, Angel must be... What do you mean, 'he came back as a teen though'? So, let me get this straight... He went to a demon dimension as a baby named Connor, and he came back a few weeks later as a teenager named Stephen who wanted to kill Angel? God, and I though that my life was complicated... You're not done? What else could you possibly have to tell me? Cordy's part demon!? How in the... Oh... Okay... So, is that it?"

Willow was looking almost as white as Buffy by now, and her own eyes were as wide as saucers. Angel had a son with Darla... The baby had been kidnapped... Then he came back as a teenager who wanted to kill his father... Cordelia was part demon... Wesley had betrayed his friends... The silence in the room as becoming almost unbearable, and Willow felt like she was suffocating. Buffy's voice suddenly broke the eerie silence though.

"You're not done? Okay, so Gunn and Fred said that... Wait a sec, who are Gunn and Fred? Oh, some of Angel's friends... Okay, so what did they say? They haven't seen Angel in almost a week? Or Cordelia? Or Wesley? Or Connor aka Stephen? And you can't stay with them in L.A.? Yeah, I heard you... Okay, give me a minute to start breathing again..."

* * *

Dawn slowly pulled the phone away from her ear and looked towards where Spike was standing. He finally looked towards her and saw the pleading in her eyes. The vampire held his hand up for a moment and said something to the attendant. Then, with a tired look on his face, he walked out towards where she was standing. Dawn motioned for him to stand there for a moment while she placed the phone back to her ear. "Hey Buffy, I'm still not quite finished... You see, we're going to have a little trouble getting back to Sunnydale..."

She grinned weakly as her eyes met Spike's. As their eyes connected, the vampire mouthed the word 'no' and quickly started backing away. "You see, Buffy, Spike's car kinda broke down in the middle of nowhere, and we're stick here until someone comes and gets us, and Spike's going to fill you in so here he is..."

Dawn quickly shoved the phone into the vampire's hands before giving him an innocent look. He glared at her and switched to his game face for a moment. However, she merely smiled and walked towards the door to the gas station.

Spike rolled his eyes upwards for a moment before switching back towards his human face. "Hello Slayer, how have you handled the news so far? Fine then, it's none of my business... Well, now that you've asked about my car... That's an interesting story... Well... yeah, it's pretty much a lost cause. Uh-huh... I really don't think that we're be going anywhere anytime soon... Wait a second there, Buffy. Now, no offense to you or anything, but if I had a choice between you and the Whelp on who was goin' to come and pick us up - sorry pet, but you wouldn't be my choice."

* * *

After a few more minutes of arguing between the Slayer and the vampire, they both hung up the phone with a loud click. As soon as they did, the blonde-haired witch who had been listening in quietly laid the phone she had been holding back in it's holder. Then, with a tired sigh, she headed towards the stairs.

When she reached the bottom of them, she quietly walked towards the kitchen where she knew that Buffy and Willow were both at. She gave a small, knowing smile as she stepped into the doorway and let her eyes settle on the two of them. They both looked up at the sound of her footsteps, and she gave them both a gentle smile as she walked over towards an empty chair.

Neither of them said a word as she sat down beside them. Somehow they both knew that she had heard the earlier conversation - even though they didn't know how. Tara didn't offer any explanation, she merely offered a shoulder to them. With a weak grin on both of their faces, they leaned over towards her and laid their heads on her shoulder.

They sat there for a moment in a shocked silence, none of them quite sure of what to say. The stillness was broken, however, by the ringing of the phone. Without a word, Buffy pulled her head up and gave both of the witches a weak smile. Then, with a quiet sigh, she picked up the cordless phone that was still laying on the table and answered with a weak-sounding, "Hello?"

* * *

Spike stomped into the gas station and shot the teenage boy a quick glance. The youth gave him a terrified grin before excusing himself to go and check on the car once again. As soon as he had left, the vampire turned his attention to Dawn - who curled up in a chair with a tired look on her face.

He gave her a gentle grin as he sat down beside her. "Well, it looks like we're stuck here until morning. You sis is going to call the Whelp and tell him to come and get us. Until he gets here though, it looks like I'm going to have to make you comfortable."

Dawn gave him a weak grin as she slowly pulled herself to her feet. As soon as she had stood up though, her face started to turn pale. "I guess I'll try and get some sleep in the backseat of the car - after I go puke my insides out..."

She clutched her stomach and practically dashed towards the restrooms. As soon as she was out of site, Spike ran his hands through his hair with a tired sigh. He could hear the sound of gagging coming from the restroom, followed by the sound of quiet sobs. For just a moment, his eyes seemed to be shining just a little with tears. After just a moment though, a bright fire came into them. "When I get my hands on whoever the guy is that did this to my Nibblet, I swear that I'm gonna..."

* * *

Giles looked around him at the bustling London airport before turning his attention back to the pay telephone in his hand. "Yes Buffy, I heard what you just said. There is nothing that we can do about this change in plans though. If Dawn cannot stay with Angel though, it seems that she is going to have to stay in Sunnydale."

He let his gaze wander around the building just a little before turning his attention back towards the phone. "Buffy, I'm going to have to let you go. My plane is preparing to board. I should be there by mid-afternoon so until then don't... Yes, I understand why you are worried, but at the moment there is nothing that you can do about it. Trust me here Buffy, no one is going to take your sister away. I promise you that. Now, I really must let you go... Fine then, goodbye to you too."

* * *

Buffy quietly laid the phone down before settling back down in her chair. She gave both of the women sitting beside her weak smiles before laying her head down on the table with a tired sigh. "I'm just going to sleep here."

Willow and Tara smiled at each other before also laying their heads down on the table. Without speaking a word, all of them knew what the other two needed. Within minutes, the three women were all sound asleep - their heads laying on the table, and their hands intertwined with each other.

* * *

Xander and Anya shared a smile between the two of them as they quietly walked around the table in the Summers' kitchen and laid several boxes of doughnuts on the counter. Just as they were about to sneak towards the living room without waking the three women up, the phone started to loudly ring. Buffy's, Willow's, and Tara's head all shot up in an instant, their eyes red and tired looking.

Buffy shot a glance towards Xander and Anya before motioning for them to stay there for a moment. Then, with a tired yawn, she picked up the phone. "Hello?"

After a few minutes of listening to whoever was on the phone for a moment, all of the tiredness in her eyes faded away. Buffy's eyes slowly widened and her skin turned even paler than the night before. For several minutes she just stood there, quietly listening and every few minutes saying either 'yes' or 'no.'

With a pained whisper, Buffy quietly started to talk. "No, she's not here at the moment. She's spending some time with family friends in Los Angeles. Yes, I understand why... Of course. As soon as she gets home, I'll contact you. Yes. Okay then, we'll talk later then."

The Slayer quietly pushed the 'off' button on the phone and let it fall to the table. There was a glazed look in her eyes, and for a moment she looked like she was about to burst into tears. After a moment though, the familiar fire was back in her eyes as she turned to face her friends. Xander gave her a worried grin before asking the question that was in all of their minds. "So, who was on the phone?"

Buffy quietly ran her fingers through her hair before answering them. "That was Social Services. They've... got some suspicions about Dawn. They'll gonna be keeping an even closer eye on her for awhile.

 

She looked down at the ground for a moment and took a shaky breath. After a moment though, she looked up with a determined look in her eyes. "Okay, let's get started. Xander, I need you to go and pick up Spike and Dawn - don't ask why. Willow, I want you to go with him and fill him in on what's going on."

They stood there for a moment before Buffy loudly cleared her throat. At that sound, the two of them nodded in agreement and headed towards where Xander's car was parked outside. As soon as the door shut behind them, the Slayer turned towards Tara and Anya. "Okay, Giles is going to be here this afternoon. Anya, I want you to go and make sure that the Magic Box is closed by the time he gets here. It looks like it's going to be Scooby Central."

Anya grinned at her and headed towards the door. As soon as she had left, Buffy turned towards the last remaining Scooby. "Tara, I want you to call L.A. and talk to one of Angel's friends - I think that Dawn said their names were Fred and Gunn. Figure out exactly what is going on there, and then ask them if they have any idea about what legal rights I have that might possibly let me keep Dawn. If you think that they might be able to help, see if you can get them to come to Sunnydale. God knows, we're going to need all of the help we can get."

Tara nodded and headed towards the upstairs phone. She stopped, however, as Buffy called after her. "Wait a second Tara! Don't ask them to come here. Instead, ask them if they would like some help finding the rest of their gang."

Buffy smiled at the uncertain look on Tara's face. "I figure that Angel's friends might not mind Dawn being there if we're there with her to look for their missing friends. And if we can't convince Social Services to let us keep her..."

The Slayer let her unfinished sentence drop off there. Tara knew what her friend was hinting at though. Buffy wasn't planning on losing Dawn, no matter what. The blonde-haired witch gave the Slayer a weak, yet understanding, smile before walking on up the stairs. As soon as she was out of sight, Buffy walked towards the living room and dropped down onto the couch. Quiet sobs shook her body as she let all of her fears and uncertainties stream down her face.


	13. Chapter 13

Dawn gingerly opened her eyes, not sure of exactly what to expect. She smiled gently, however, as she felt the warm sun beating down on her through the car's covered windows. The teenage girl quietly opened the door and pulled herself out of the car. With a tired yawn, she stretched her arms towards the sky and looked around.

The gas station looked even older and more run down than the night before, which she thought was almost impossible. She grinned slightly as she saw that the window of the gas station had been covered by something on the inside. At least she knew where Spike was hiding out.

She started to walk towards the building, but before she could even start walking, she felt the familiar sick feeling come into her stomach. Dawn gave a quiet moan before sinking to her knees and starting to gag. 'Whoever said that morning sickness was hell was way off,' she thought with another moan. 'It's way worse than that.'

* * *

Xander spun the steering wheel of the car almost all around, causing his red-headed passenger to choke back a scream. As the car spun back onto the road, he quickly looked back towards her with an apologetic shrug of the shoulders. "Sorry 'bout that, Will. I thought that the road turned to the right instead of the left."

Willow gave her best friend a weak grin before reaching down to make sure her seatbelt was fastened securely. Then, trying her best not to start screaming, she turned her head back towards him. "Um... Xander? Why don't you let me try and drive for a little while? You've been behind the wheel for a couple of hours now, and I know that you must be tired."

Xander turned his head towards her and gave a wide grin. "Don't worry 'bout me, Willow. I can handle driving this car better than anyone. Trust me, you couldn't be in safer hands."

She started to give him another nervous grin, but she never got the chance. Before she could force her lips to form a smile, a muffled scream burst out. "Damnit Xander, watch the freaking road!"

The young man quickly turned his eyes back on the road and once again spun the steering wheel. As the car spun back onto its side of the road, out of the huge eighteen-wheeler's path, Willow closed her eyes and sank down into the seat. There were a million thoughts racing through her mind, but one kept popping up over and over again. 'And they say that Buffy can't drive...'

* * *

Dawn quietly opened the door to the gas station and walked in. After waiting a few moments for her eyes to adjust to the weak light inside, she quickly looked around. A sigh of relief escaped her lips as soon as she saw the young attendant sitting in a chair, his head laying on the counter while he slept. "Well," she whispered quietly, "at least Spike didn't kill him."

She jumped just a little as a quiet burst of laughter came from the corner of the room farthest from the door and windows. Spike was sitting at one of the rickety tables in the room, drinking a glass of what she assumed was blood. Dawn quickly shot him a look as soon as what she had just seen registered in her mind. "Where on earth did you get blood to drink?"

He gave her a cocky grin before raising the glass to his lips and taking another sip. "Well Nibblet, if you really want me to tell you where I got it... Actually, it's quite an interesting tale..."

Dawn rolled her eyes and gave an exaggerated sigh before sinking down into one of the other chairs at the table he was sitting at. "No, I really don't want to know where you got it. Just forget that I asked, okay? I just got through puking my guts out, and I'm not in the mood to start again."

At her words, the vampire quickly sat his glass down and gave her a worried look. He opened his mouth to speak, but she held up her hand before he hand a chance. "Trust me, I'm fine. There's nothing for you to worry about, so don't even start."

* * *

Giles looked around him at the almost empty airplane. He gave a weak smile as he settled back down into his seat and once again read the letter that he had been given by the Watcher's Council. As he once again read the words that were written on it, he took a deep breath and prayed with all of his might that the Council would actually follow through with what they had told him.

After a few moments, he placed the letter in his pocket and slowly sank down into his seat. For a moment, he let his mind wander back to the conversation between he and Buffy the night before. There had been some rumors among his fellow Watchers about a prophecy involving the vampire with a soul, but he had never expected... 

Giles quickly shook his head to clear his mind. He had just spent the last several hours contemplating what she had told him, but now wasn't really the time for that. It was much more important for him to consider what was to happen with Dawn. If the Council followed through, then there would be nothing to worry about. However, if the letter in his pocket was nothing more than an elaborate joke... 

With a quiet sigh, he once again reached into his pocket and pulled out the letter. It would be best if he didn't tell Buffy yet. No, not until he was absolutely certain that it was true. Until then, it would be best not to raise her hopes. His eyes slowly went over the letter again, even though he had memorized it's words hours earlier. God, how he hoped that the Council would follow through.

* * *

Anya looked around at all of the customers in the Magic Box. Then she quickly looked up at the clock she had hanging above her head. With a nervous grin, she looked around to make sure that the Slayer hadn't come in when she wasn't watching. After making sure that Buffy wasn't there, the ex-demon gave a quiet sigh.

"Buffy said that I was supposed to make sure that I closed the store before Giles got here. If she had wanted me to close up now, she should have told me point blank. Since she didn't though, I guess that there isn't any reason for me to close now and lose so much money that could be spent on me."

She jumped just a little as a weak chuckle suddenly came from behind her. After she had regained her composure, however, Anya spun around with an angry look on her face. "Hey! No one but me is allowed behind the counter, so you'll just have to... Oh, hi Hallie."

Halfrek looked up and down her friend for a moment, obviously trying to see how married life was suiting her. After a second or two though, she seemed to find everything fine. She looked up with a slightly impressed look on her face. "Well, it seems that you're marriage wasn't as big a mistake as I had thought."

Anya gave her a disbelieving stare at that. She opened her mouth to retort, but the sound of a customer coming up to the counter quickly changed her priorities. Plastering a fake grin on her face, she spun around to find herself facing an elderly-looking woman. "Thank you for shopping at the Magic Box. Would you like to make a purchase?"

The woman smiled and laid a small, faded book onto the table. Anya gave it a quick glance before smiling and moving over to the cash register. Halfrek's voice rang out from behind her though. "Sorry, but we're closed. You'll have to come back later."

Anya spun around to face Halfrek, who was calmly standing behind her. "What the hell are you talking about? This is my store, and I'm the only person who can say that it's closed. This lady is just about to make a purchase, so unless you have some really important to tell me..."

The vengeance demon gave her friend a smug smile before slowly nodding her head. "You might say that this is important. I just heard about young Dawn's predicament, and I just couldn't help but be reminded of a prophecy I heard about recently..."

Anya's eyes widened and she quickly turned to the elderly woman who was still standing there, a confused look on her face. "I'm sorry, but we have to close right now. There is a... family emergency. I'm sorry..."

She gave the woman an apologetic smile before hurrying around to the other side of the counter. Raising her voice to be heard throughout the store, she quickly clapped her hands together for attention. "I'm sorry, but I have a family emergency to see to. The Magic Box will be closed until further notice. Will everyone please leave right now..."

After a few minutes, the store was empty except for the two women. Anya quickly pulled up a chair and sat down, followed by Halfrek a few moments later. "So Hallie, what kind of prophecy have you heard?"

* * *

Willow's eyes widened with relief as soon as she caught sight of the small, dingy gas station on the side of the road. With a relieved sigh, she quickly turned to face Xander. "I think that's the gas station. See, there's Spike's car parked outside..."

Xander gave her a large grin as he spun the steering wheel towards the gas station. Not noticing the terrified look on Willow's face, he reached over with his right hand and patted her reassuringly on the back. "See Will, I told you that we'd get here safe and sound. Now that wasn't as bad as you though, was it?"

As the car came to a stop, the red-haired woman quickly opened the door and jumped out. Making sure that Xander couldn't hear her, she silently thanked whoever was watching over her and whispered a reply to his question. "No, it was a lot worse."

* * *

Both Spike and Dawn looked up at the sound of squealing wheels coming from outside the gas station. They shared a brief grin before Dawn let out a sigh and stood up. "Well, it sounds like Xander's here."

Moments later, the door to the gas station swung wide open and Xander walked in. Spike let out a curse as a stream of sunlight hit him and quickly moved even farther into the corner. Willow, who was just walking in the door, quickly shut it and gave the vampire an apologetic shrug. "Sorry 'bout that."

Spike, rubbing his still-smoking arm, gave her a weak grin before glaring at Xander. "That's fine, Red. I know that you didn't mean to burn me to a bloody crisp."

At his words, Xander's mouth dropped open, and a few spluttering sounds came out of his mouth. After a moment though, he threw his arms into the air and let out a strangled cry. "What, you think I meant to hit you with sunlight? Of course I didn't mean to. Now, it really wouldn't have been that bad of an idea, but..."

Dawn quickly looked over at the cashier, who was once again awake. His eyes were wide, and it was obvious that he knew exactly what Spike was. She quickly looked over at Spike and Xander, who were both now throwing insults at each other, before walking over to the young man.

She gave him a weak grin before pulling out a few bills and shoving them into his hand. "If we leave his car here," she whispered quietly, moving her head in Spike's direction, "will you make sure that nothing happens to it until we can get someone to come tow it back home?"

The man cleared his throat hurriedly, obviously about to tell her exactly what he thought about that plan. Before he could say a word though, Dawn finished what she had been saying. "And before you say no, I suggest that you think carefully. You've seen what kind of a temper he has, and it would be such a shame for you to feel it first-hand."

Within instants, the young man's skin turned a pale, grayish color. With a quiet gulp, he nodded his head and grabbed the money from her hand. "Fine then, I'll make sure that nothing happens to the guy's car. Your ride's here now, so get the hell out of here."

Dawn grinned at him before spinning around and walking over to Willow, who was staring at Spike and Xander with an amused look on her face. The teenager quickly tapped the red-haired witch on the shoulder and motioned towards the door. With one quick look behind her, Willow followed.

As soon as they got to the door, Dawn looked around her. After a few moments, she grabbed a box of black trash bags and headed for the door. The cashier let out a surprised "Hey!", but quickly shut his mouth as soon as Dawn shot him and angry glare.

With one more look at Spike and Xander, who were still standing there arguing - oblivious to the fact that their companions had left, she grinned at Willow and walked out of the gas station. As soon as they had stepped outside, Dawn motioned towards Xander's car. "Come on, let's get the windows covered with these bags."

Willow shot her a curious look, obviously not seeing what the bags were for. At that, the teenage girl's face broke into an amused grin. "Spike's a vampire, remember? Vampire plus sun equals pile of dust, and as hilarious as Xander might find that..."

The red-haired woman smiled gently before grabbing the box out of Dawn's hands. "I get your picture. Come on then, we need to hurry. Your sister wanted us to get back as soon as we could, since Giles is coming in this afternoon."

* * *

Buffy splashed some more cold water on her face, trying to erase the tearstains that covered her face. After a few more minutes, she backed away from the mirror and looked at her reflection once again. With a dejected sigh, she turned off the faucet and walked out into the hall. Suddenly, without warning, a quiet voice came from behind her. "Are you okay now?"

She let out a startled gasp before turning around to face Tara. Taking a few quiet breaths, she nodded her head slowly. "Yeah, I'm fine. You almost weren't though. Trust me, surprising the Slayer can be a dangerous thing."

The blonde-haired witch merely smiled and motioned towards the stairs. "Sorry about that then. Oh, I just got off of the phone with Angel's friend - Fred. She filled me in on a few legal details that might help us... and then she told me a f...few more things about what's been g...going on there."

Buffy shot her friend a quick look when she heard the slight stutter come into her voice. She hadn't heard Tara stutter in quite a while, so that let her know that something was up. "What's wrong?"

The blonde-haired witch gave her a weak smile before walking on down the stairs. "It's really not that important. It can wait until later. Now, we better be getting on to the Magic Box. We both know that Anya isn't going to close early unless we're there to make her."

* * *

Xander glared at Spike once again before throwing his arms in the air and turning around. "Come on Willow, grab Dawn and let's just leave him... Wait a sec, why is there no one behind me?"

At his words, Spike quickly looked around the small gas station himself. After making sure that neither Dawn or Willow was there, he let out a loud sigh and walked over to the cashier. Without even pausing, he grabbed the young man by the shirt collar and lifted him several inches above the ground. "Where the hell did they go?"

The man made a choking sound and quickly pointed towards the door. Spike gave him a forced grin and quickly dropped him. The vampire flinched just a little and, almost automatically, reached up and rubbed his forehead. Xander merely gave a quiet snort of laughter and walked towards the door.

As he prepared to open the door and walk out, Spike reached over and pulled him back. Then, his hand still holding Xander, he turned his attention back to the cashier. "Okay then mate, what am I going to do 'bout my car?"

The young man gave him a nervous grin before quickly backing away. "That girl who was with you gave me some cash to keep an eye on it for awhile. I'll be sure to make sure nothing happens to it."

Spike stood there for a moment before slowly nodding his head in agreement. Then, promptly ignoring the young man, he turned his attention back to Xander. "Check and see what they have been up to."

Xander gave him a disgusted look before sighing and flinging open the door. Within moments, he smelled something burning and heard loud cursing in a British accent. He grinned slightly as he looked out of the door and looked towards his car. Then, quickly hiding the grin on his face, he turned back towards where Spike was standing. "Grab a blanket or something and go get in my car. The girls have already covered the windows for you."

Spike rolled his eyes and grabbed the small blanket that he had brought in from the car with him. Then, pushing his way past Xander, he made a dash to the car where the girls were already waiting. Xander gave him a disbelieving look before walking out of the gas station and hurrying after the vampire.

As soon as the door closed behind him, the young man behind the counter let out a loud sigh of relief. Then, with a curious look on his face, he pulled back some of the dark paper covering the window. As the small car parked outside pulled away with a loud squeal, the cashier's face suddenly changed into a worried grin. With one more quick look outside, he grabbed the phone and dialed in a number.

He stood still for a moment, listening to the ringing on the other end of the phone. After a few moments though, someone picked up on the other end. With one more worried look out the window, the young man quickly started talking. 

"Hey man, it's Bill. Whoever your contact is, they're right. That girl you told me to watch for just left, and she's definitely expecting. Yeah, I'm certain it was the right girl. Fairly tall, kinda fair-skinned, long dark hair, 'bout four - maybe five - months along. Um... The vampire she was with called her Dawn. Uh-huh, I said vampire. Bleached hair, dressed all in black... Sound like anyone you know? Oh... 'Kay then, I'll talk to ya later. Oh, one more thing... Let me know how everything turns out, will 'ya Oz?"


	14. Chapter 14

Daniel Osbourne, most commonly known as Oz, lay his phone down with a quiet sigh. God, it really was looking like everything he had been told was true. No matter how much he wished that it wasn't, the amount of proof was growing by the hour.

He jumped just a little as a voice suddenly came from behind him. "Well, do you believe me now? Did your friend tell you enough to prove my story?"

The young man looked over his shoulder at the person standing in the shadows behind him. There was still a slightly skeptical look on his face, but he looked like he was at least going to listen. "Yeah, it looks like you're telling the truth. I still don't see why the Powers That Be sent you to find me though. Shouldn't you have gone to Sunnydale, or L.A., or London, or wherever else the other guys might be? I mean, I haven't even seen them in almost three years."

A weak chuckle came from the person standing there. "That's exactly the reason the Powers sent me to find you. Unlike the others, you haven't been involved in all of the problems that have been going on over the last few years. However, you've still kept an eye - and an ear - on your friends. So you know about everything that's going on, but you haven't been affected by any of the... Well, that's really not that important."

Oz let out a loud sigh before pulling a chair out from under the desk he was standing in front of. "In other words, I'm supposed to just walk back into the lives of my friends - who I haven't seen in years - and then tell them about some prophecy that is about to happen. And then, using information that the Powers That Be have sent me, I'm supposed to help them find Angel and friends."

The figure slowly stepped out of the shadows, revealing the form of a man. He then shrugged his shoulders at the werewolf's statement. "Well, that's about it. You forgot about stopping by Vegas to try and get..."

"Angel's friend, Lorne, to come back to L.A. for awhile," Oz finished with a tired sigh. "And then I'm supposed to try and find the kid, Connor... Steven... or whatever name he's going by now. What do you want me to do next? Go look around until I find Drusilla? Or what about Faith? Or even..."

"You can drop the sarcasm," the man said with a wry grin. "It really doesn't seem to suit you. Besides, at the moment you're supposed to be in Sunnydale. Help the... Scooby Gang, is that what you call them? Yes, I thought so. Help the Scooby Gang first, and then you can start working on the next step."

Oz shot the man a quick look before letting out another tired sigh. Then, with a slightly annoyed look on his face, he turned to face the man. "God, I'm really starting to see why Angel and Buffy didn't like you that much. You messengers for the Powers can really be big pains in the ass at times, did you know that... Whistler?"

* * *

Dawn let out a muffled scream as she grabbed Spike's arm. He gave her a weak grin before leaning towards the front seat and grabbing the steering wheel of the car. At that, Xander spun his head towards the vampire with a loud, "Hey!"

Spike merely glared at the young man for a moment before letting go of the wheel. "Bloody hell, can you at least try and drive the car. The Nibblet didn't even scream this much back when I was the one driving."

Within moments, the two men were in the middle of another loud argument. Dawn let out a loud groan before covering her ears and sinking down in her seat. Willow turned around in her seat with a grin. "So Dawnie, I guess this is what 'mature' people act like. You need to make sure and watch them, since they're supposed to be your role models and everything."

Dawn looked up from her seat with a tired smile before her eyes widened in surprise. Willow jumped slightly as the girl shot up from her seat and let out another muffled scream. "Xander, get the hell back on your side of the road!"

Xander quickly turned his attention away from the blonde vampire and back to the road - and the large van that was headed straight at him. He spun the steering wheel almost entirely around, and - with the wheels squealing wildly - yanked the car over to his side of the road. As soon as the car was out of danger's path, Spike let out an angry growl. "That's it. You are going to pull this car over right now and let me drive it from here."

The young man spun his head around to face Spike once again, an angry fire burning in his eyes. Before he could retort though, both of the women let him have their opinions on the matter. "Let him drive!"

* * *

Anya looked over at Halfrek with a shocked look on her face. "You're serious!? My God, you're really serious about that! Are you... sure!? I mean, are you really, really, really sure!?"

The vengeance (a.k.a. justice) demon shrugged her shoulders. "Which one are you talking about? The prophecy? Or the news I had about you?"

Anya pulled herself to her feet, her eyes wide, and threw her arms up in the air. "I don't really care! Both! Neither! One or the other! Just tell me if you're sure!"

Halfrek once again shrugged her shoulders as she pulled herself to her feet. "Both... Neither... All of the above... Now Anyanka, don't you look at me like that. I'm sure about both of them - the prophecy... and you. If you don't believe me about the latter though, why don't you go and check for yourself?"

* * *

Buffy gave Tara a small grin as she opened the door to the Magic Box. "How much do you bet that the store is... empty!? God, she actually closed the store early just like I asked her to!"  
The two women shared a worried look before walking on into the store. They let their eyes scan the room, obviously looking for a certain ex-vengeance demon. After a moment, Tara's eyes widened a little, and she walked over towards the counter. 

"There's a note here from Anya. One second, let me see what it says... 'Hallie came by for a chat. She told me some interesting news. I'll be back later. By the way, have you heard the prophecy about what's supposed to happen when the two-year-old woman gives birth? Very interesting... It seems to be about Dawn.' Okay now... That note was obviously left by Anya - lots of details on the unimportant things, one sentence about a prophecy involving Dawn." 

At the word 'prophecy', Buffy's eyes had grown wide with surprise. Now though, an exasperated look had appeared in them. She sank down into a chair and let her eyes wander to a nearby clock. Then, with a sigh, she looked over at the blonde witch who was still standing by the counter. "Come on over here and site down, Tara. It's going to be a while before everyone gets here."

* * *

Giles let out a tired moan as the cab driver once again asked him where exactly they were going. "For the last time, we are headed towards a store on the square of Sunnydale. All you have to do is keep heading in this direction, and we should be there in less than half an hour."

The cabbie looked back at the passenger sitting in the backseat and rolled his eyes. "God, you don't have to lose your temper. When I go to Sunnydale, I just like making sure I know exactly where I'm going. That place is like Hell or something."

The British man let out a loud sigh as he sank down into his seat. "You don't have to tell me that, mate. I lived there for over five years - three of which were spent teaching at the local high school."

The cabbie looked over at the man with a surprised look on his face. "You mean the old high school? The one that blew up? Tell me mister, which of the rumors are true. I know that the official statement was that a gas main or something blew, but my nephew kept going on about the mayor turning into some sort of giant snake."

Giles let out a tired sigh and briefly closed his eyes. This trip was seeming longer by the minute. "Like you said, the official statement was that a gas main exploded. Do we really need to delve further into this?"

* * *

Spike pulled the car to a screeching halt outside of the Magic Box. He was just about to turn off the car and jump out, when Xander let out an annoyed moan. "You are not just going to leave my car here. Do you want to get it towed or something?"

The vampire rolled his eyes and looked at the young man sitting in the back seat. "Fine then, I'll just park the bloody car inside of the store. Would that work better for you, 'o exalted bricklayer?"

At Spike's threat, Xander's eyes widened in fear. Then, with a submissive nod of the head, he opened his door wide and jumped out of the car. However, his face broke into a wide grin at the vampire's loud cry of pain when the sun hit him.

Dawn and Willow shared a look between each other before opening their own doors and stepping out, making sure that the sun didn't hit the still-smoking driver of the car. Spike shot them a grateful look before grabbing his blanket and making a dash for the Magic Box.

He was followed close behind by Willow and Dawn. Xander, however, stood beside his car for a moment. Then, with a tired sigh, he opened the driver's side door and stepped in. "I'll be there as soon as I park the car!"

* * *

Both Buffy and Tara jumped slightly as the door to the store burst open and a smoking Spike dashed in. Their worried faces turned to happier ones, however, as soon as Willow and Dawn followed him through the door. Tara quickly stood up and walked over to her lover. For a moment the two of them stared into each other's eyes, until they both smiled and embraced in a tight hug.

Dawn looked on at the two woman for a minute before looking over at her sister. Buffy smiled at her and started to walked towards the young girl. Before she had even made three steps towards her though, Dawn's face suddenly went pale. "I'll be back in a sec," she whispered with a sick moan as she headed towards the bathroom.

The Slayer stood there for a moment, looking in the direction that her sister was headed. Then, with a tired sigh she turned her attention back towards the other people there. With a sigh, she turned towards Spike, who was still trying to stop his hands from smoking. "Thanks for taking care of her. I owe you one."

At that, the vampire's face broke into a slightly wicked grin. Before he could say a word though, Buffy held up her hand. "No way... I am not going to tell them so don't even ask."

As soon as she said that, the quiet sound of laughter came from the direction that Dawn had been heading. She had walked back into the room, and there was a wry grin on her face that looked very much like Spike's. "What are you not going to tell us, Buffy? That the two of you have been sleeping together?"

At her words, the entire room seemed to echo with gasps. Buffy's eyes flashed as she turned back towards Spike. The blonde-haired vampire held up his arms, his eyes pleading innocence. "Don't look at me that way, Goldilocks. I didn't tell her a thing."

Willow's eyes were wide as she looked over at her lover. They grew even wider, however, as she saw the look in Tara's eyes. "She's right? You knew that they were... And you didn't tell me?"

Buffy let out a loud sigh before turning around to face her sister and best friend. "First of all, I want to know how you found out about that Dawnie. And if it has the word 'Spike' in it, then I'm getting out the stake. Second, don't blame Tara for not telling you Will. I told her not to."

At that, it was Spike's turn to look surprised. "She knew! For how long!? Never mind that last question, I think that I know for how long. Well, that does explain some things..."

After he had finished, Dawn gave her sister a weak grin and shrugged her shoulders. "It's really been pretty obvious... I mean, once I sat down and though about it for awhile. Which I did the entire car ride. Of course, it's still kind of hard to think about you and Spike sleeping together."

At those words, the sound of a loud thump came from the doorway. Everyone turned their heads towards the door to find themselves staring at... Xander, with Giles standing right behind him. There was a shocked look on both of their faces, and Xander was already looking at the weapons cabinet in the back of the room.

Buffy let out a loud sigh as she walked over towards the door. "Hi Xander. Hi Giles. Yes, you heard Dawn right. No, you cannot kill anyone in this room. You two need to some on inside, because it looks like everything's about to become more complicated really soon."

* * *

Oz looked over at the man sitting beside him in his van. He let out a loud sigh before looking back towards the road. "Well, we should be there in a couple of hours. What exactly do you want me to say when we get there? "Hi guys, I'm back. I think that I can control the werewolf part of me, but I'm still not entirely sure. By the way, did I mention that the Powers That Be have some kind of hidden agenda that they want us to help with?"

Whistler shot the young man another look. "Like I said earlier, sarcasm doesn't really suit you. And the Powers don't really have a hidden agenda... It's just that mere mortals such as yourself wouldn't be able to understand it."

Oz rolled his eyes, but he still kept them on the road. "Yeah, whatever you say. I still don't see why they chose me to help be messenger boy though. I mean, couldn't you just show up in Sunnydale like you did last time?"

Whistler gave the young man a grin. "Sure... Of course, the odds are that Buffy wouldn't be welcoming anything I told her though. Remember, the last time I was there to tell her that she had to send her boyfriend to Hell. Not exactly a way to make a good first impression."

* * *

Xander looked over at Buffy with a tired expression on his face. "So, let me get this straight... We were supposed to be meeting here to figure out a way to keep Social Services from taking Dawn away from you. Instead, we're discussing the fact that Spike and Buffy have been sleeping together - which I really, really, really don't want to think about. Oh, and did I mention that there is possibly some prophecy that involves Dawn, but we won't know exactly until my wife gets back from wherever she went?"

For a moment there was silence in the room, but then it came alive with a quiet buzz of 'yeses'. Xander let out a loud sigh before sinking down into a nearby chair. "Okay, this day has beaten all previous records. I don't think that there is anything left that will surprise me."

The door to the Magic Box suddenly flung open, and both Anya and Halfrek came rushing in. The demon was trying not to look excited, even though she obviously was, and the ex-demon wasn't even trying to hide it. Her face was flushed, and there was almost a glow surrounding her. "Xander, guess what... I'm pregnant!"

Xander sat still for a moment, a blank expression on his face. Finally, he turned his face towards his friends. "Remember what I just said about nothing else surprising me? Forget it..." 

Then, with a calm look on his face, he stood up and walked over to his wife. Without saying a word, he calmly hugged her. And then, also without saying a word, he collapsed to the ground in a faint.

Anya looked around the room at the shocked looks on everyone's faces. Then, shrugging her shoulders, she turned back towards Halfrek. "Well Hallie, I'd say that they took it pretty well... Wouldn't you?"


	15. Chapter 15

After several minutes of shocked silence, Anya let out a loud sigh and stomped one of her feet. She then walked over to where her husband was laying and slowly leaned down to tap his shoulder. When she didn't get a response, she rolled her eyes and stood up to face the Scooby Gang - who were still sitting nearby with various shocked looks on their faces. "Will someone bring me some water to dump on his head?"

For a few moments, no one appeared to have even heard her. When her eyes started to flash again though, the spell slowly started to break. Dawn's face slowly broke into a grin as she sat up straight in her seat. 

The teenage girl shook her head in amazement one more time before slowly pulling herself from the chair that she had been sitting in. With a weak grin on her face, she walked over to Anya and gave her a hug. 

"Congratulations - it looks like I won't be going through this alone after all. Oh, and I think that you should just let Xander sleep there... I think that your news was all it took to send him over the edge. I mean, what with him finding out about Buffy and Spike... And I'm definitely not going to be the one to explain that to you."

Anya gave the teenager a grin before walking over to where the other Scoobies were still sitting. "Oh, no one has to explain that to me. I mean, it's been pretty obvious that the two of them have been sleeping with each other."

At that, both Buffy and Spike snapped out of their shocked daze. There was an amazed look on Spike's face and what appeared to be an angry one on Buffy's. The Slayer slowly stood up and started talking in a low, forceful voice - which quickly caught the attention of everyone else in the room. "First Dawn, and now Anya... Would either of you mind telling me what you meant by 'obvious'?"

Dawn merely held up her hands in defeat and sat back in her seat. Anya, however, didn't seem to notice the danger she was getting into. "I was just kidding about it being obvious. I mean, I had no clue that the two of you were having sex..."

She was interrupted by a low moan coming from the floor. The ex-vengeance demon shot a quick look at her husband, who was turning a pale green as he half-way listened to his wife's words. Anya shrugged her shoulders and quickly continued her sentence. "I had no clue that the two of you were... Well, I didn't have a clue until Hallie told me about it - right after she told me about that prophecy."

At the word 'prophecy', everyone in the room - at least, everyone who was conscious - looked over at Anya with exasperated looks in their eyes. Giles let out a sigh before standing up and walking over to where she was standing. "Speaking of this prophecy... Do you think you might be able to let the rest of us know about it?"

For once in her life, Anya didn't seem to have anything to say. For a moment she stood there, before looking over at the demon who was still standing near the door. "Well Hallie... Would you like to tell them about the prophecy?"

Halfrek gave her friend an amazed look before quietly letting out a small burst of amused laughter. "Why Anyanka, you should know me better than that. Why would I waste my time helping humans when there is veng... justice to serve."

The woman's human appearance slowly faded away, revealing her actual demon form. She gave Anya one more quick grin before snapping her fingers. "I'll stop by and see you sometime later, Anyanka. And you too, William..."

At those words, Spike suddenly became very interested at something on the other side of the room. Halfrek shrugged her shoulders and shot him a slightly flirting look before turning her attention back to Anya. "Oh, and just let me know if the human isn't faithful..."

Her threat lingering in the air, the demon disappeared with a quick flash of light. As soon as she had left, Xander let out a quiet moan from the floor and slowly pulled himself to a sitting position. "Dawn's four months pregnant, Buffy's sleeping with Spike, my wife's pregnant, my wife's demon friend - who seems just a little too friendly with the bleached wonder, if you know what I mean - is threatening to do who-knows-what to me, Angel and Company are MIA... Have I forgotten anything?"

Dawn grinned at him before heading back towards her chair. "Well... You didn't mention anything about Angel and Darla having a son..."

Xander let out another moan and sank back towards the floor. "Fine then, my mistake... Is there anything else? And I really suggest that you don't mention anything else..." 

The teenage girl let out a weak laugh as she sank back down into her chair. "I wish that I didn't have to, but Anya still hasn't told us anything about that prophecy thing yet... I'm not supposed to die, am I?"  
The ex-demon rolled her eyes slightly as she slowly sank into the nearest empty chair. "No, you're not going to die. At least, the prophecy doesn't mention anything about that anyway. Of course, it does mention that..."

* * *

Oz kept his eyes focused on the road, but there was a tired look in them as he saw the familiar sights all around him. He hadn't been to his hometown in years, not since he had found out about his Willow being... The young man quickly shook his head, trying to clear that thought from him mind. She wasn't his Willow anymore. No, not anymore.

Whistler quietly glanced over at the man sitting behind the wheel of the vehicle. It was obvious that he was having some doubts about coming back to Sunnydale. That was to be expected. Hell, even he was having some doubts. 

Just because the Powers had sent him, that didn't mean it was going to work out fine. Maybe it would have been better if he had let that guy, Skip, have this job... Nope, that guy already had a big head from his job in L.A. working out so well.

After a few minutes of silence, Oz let out a loud sigh. "Well, we're about forty-five minutes outside of Sunnydale. I guess that I should be figuring out exactly what we're going to tell them when we get there. Of course, that might be easier if someone would fill me in on exactly what's been going on since I left. I mean, I've found out some stuff from my contacts - but they're all kinda lacking in the details department."

Whistler gave Oz a quick look before making it look like he was thinking hard. Actually, the Powers had told him to fill the kid in - but why not make it seem like he was doing the werewolf a favor. "Well... I guess that I can fill ya in a little bit."

* * *

Anya sat back in her chair, obviously enjoying being the center of attention. "The prophecy states that when the two-year-old woman... Which seems to be you, Dawnie, since technically you're only..."

Buffy cleared her throat and quickly shot the ex-demon a threatening look. Anya quickly smiled and went back to her story. "Anyways, it says something about when the two-year-old woman gives birth, the miracle child of the vampires... Hallie says that she's pretty sure that would be Angel's son..."

Giles was the one who cleared his throat this time, which quickly prompted Anya to go on with her story. "Anyways, it says that when the blood of the mother and the baby spills, the miracle child will show his true loyalties. Then there's something about this creature of eternal darkness using the spilled blood to bring about the end of the world by something or another... You know, pretty typical."

Buffy slowly took a deep breath and silently started counting in her head. She made it to 'seven' before she looked up at the woman sitting near her. "Anya, why don't you just tell us the entire prophecy? Word for word..."

Anya shrugged her shoulders just a little before letting out a sigh and sinking down into her chair. "Sure, whatever you want... _The Dawn of the new age will open when the two-year-old woman gives birth. When mother and child's blood spill, the miracle child of vampires will show his true face. Friends and foes will unite when the creature eternally in darkness drinks of the blood of the innocents, bringing forth the end of the old age._ "

The red-haired woman slowly shrugged her shoulders at the baffled looks on her friends' faces. "Well, that's basically what it says. It kind of loses something in the translation, if you know what I mean."

Dawn looked down at her slightly bulging stomach for a moment, a startled look on her face. Then, with a slight hint of curiosity in her eyes, she turned her gaze back towards Anya. "It sure sounds like I'm supposed to die..."

* * *

Oz looked over at Whistler for a moment as he slowly finished telling him what had been happening lately in Sunnydale. "So those three geeks got caught trying to rob a bank and are now in some high security prison?"

The demon shrugged his shoulders and let out a quiet laugh. "Yep, that's about it kid. There really hasn't been that much going on in your hometown lately."

The young man slowly looked back over at Whistler. "And we both know how impossible that is. So, are you going to tell me the rest of the story?"

Whistler let out a sudden cough at Oz's words. His eyes widened just a little as he looked over at the young man sitting behind the wheel of the car. "I don't have a clue what the hell you're..."

Oz shot him a look, his eyes hard and cold. "Don't give me any of the crap, Whistler. I'm not stupid. You've mentioned several times that Dawn's baby has caused several things in Sunnydale to be a lot more positive than they would have been without it. What would have happened if Dawn hadn't gotten pregnant?"

Whistler's pale face grew a little paler as he slowly looked away from Oz. "Come on, kid. You really don't want to know what would have happened. Trust me."

The werewolf didn't say a word as he turned his eyes towards Whistler for just a moment. The demon looked at him for a minute, before slowly turning his gaze towards a nearby window. "Well, the first major difference would be the fact that Xander would have left Anya at the alter..."

* * *

The scene inside the Magic Box was quite different that it had been earlier. Giles, Tara, and Willow were all sitting around the table, a large pile of books sitting in front of them as they flipped through book after book.

Xander was sitting in a nearby chair, his face still pale, as Anya slowly wiped his head with a damp cloth. Buffy and Spike were dragging weapon after weapon from the basement, while doing their best to pretend that the other person wasn't there. Dawn was sitting in a chair by the wall, her eyes slowly flickering around the room.

The room was eerily quiet, broken only by sounds of Spike's and Buffy's footsteps and Anya's whispers to Xander. Suddenly, without warning, Giles slammed the book he had been reading shut. At the sound, everyone in the room jumped almost a foot in the air. "Bloody hell, what were you trying to do!? Give us all heart attacks?"

Giles merely rolled his eyes and stood up. "First of all, Spike, I'm pretty sure that you don't have to worry about ever having a heart attack."

Buffy slowly let out a small sigh as she walked over towards where Giles was standing. "Yeah, but you almost gave me a heart attack - don't you dare say a word, Spike. What's up, Giles? Did you find something? Or maybe a lack of something..."

The British man slowly let out a sigh as he sank back down in his seat. "It would be the latter. There just doesn't appear to be anything of importance in these books. So, we have almost no idea what to expect - unless one of you forgot to mention something."

At those words, Xander looked over at Giles with an exasperated look on his face. "Come on, it was only that once... You know that I would tell you guys if I knew anything about this."

After Xander finished ranting, Spike quickly rolled his eyes. "Giles was using sarcasm, Harris. He wasn't pointing anything at you - even though he might should have, considering your record..." 

Xander's eyes widened just a little, and a little bit of red suddenly flushed his otherwise white face. "That's it, I'm gonna kill him..."

He pulled himself to his feet and tried to fling himself towards where the blonde vampire was standing. He was stopped, however, by Anya and Willow - who had grabbed his shoulders and were pulling him away from where Spike was standing, taunting him. "Come on, Harris... Are you going to let a few women run your life?" 

Spike suddenly stopped talking as Buffy grabbed him and pulled him towards the side of the room opposite of where Xander was. She glared at him as she shoved him over to the wall. "Will you shut up for five seconds!?"

The vampire smirked at her just a little as they stared into each other's eyes. He could see the hints of longing hiding in them. "Well luv, you could always give me something more interesting to do..."

At that, her eyes flashed with anger - erasing anything else that he might have seen in them. "Why you bast..."

He words were interrupted by the sound of the door to the Magic Box opening. They all turned towards the door, not sure of what to expect. No matter what they had thought might be coming through the door, however, could have prepared them for who they saw. "Oz!?"

He slowly stepped through the door, looking exactly how he had the last time they had saw him - other than the fact that his hair was now blonde. "Um... Hi guys. You probably are wondering what I'm doing here, huh?"

Willow slowly stood up to face him, surprise still shining in her eyes. Before she could say a word though, Tara stood up and slowly grabbed her hand. "Yeah, you could say that."

Oz gave them both an apologetic look before turning around to look behind him. "If it had been up to me, I wouldn't have came back here. Not right now, at least. As it is though, I really didn't have much choice in the matter."

From behind him, Whistler slowly stepped into the shop and closed the door behind him. The short man shrugged his shoulders slightly and quickly shot the Slayer a quick look. "When the Powers That Be get involved, no one has much choice."

At the sight of him, Buffy's eyes had widened slightly in slight remembrance. As soon as he had started talking though, she remember exactly where she had last seen him. "What the hell are you doing here, Whistler?"


	16. Chapter 16

As soon as Buffy spoke, everyone in the room - save Whistler, Oz, and Anya - turned their attention away from the door and stared at her with confused looks on their faces. Xander stepped forwards after a moment and looked around at the others before slowly speaking. "I'm pretty sure that I speak for everyone when I ask... Who the hell is he and how do you know him?"

Before Buffy had a chance to answer him, Dawn's eyes widened just a little. She shot her sister a questioning look before glancing back over at the doorway. "Ooh! So he's that Whistler - the guy you told me about who showed up right before you had to..."

The teenager quickly stopped speaking when she saw the look on her sister's face. Dawn nodded in understanding before slowly walking over to where her sister was standing. Buffy gave her a weak smile before looking back over at her friends, who were all looking extremely confused. All of them, except for some strange reason... "Why do I think that you already know who he is, Anya?"

The ex-demon gave her a large grin before turning around to look at the door. "Well, I'm not really sure about Whistler... But I once knew someone who looked very much like this guy. Of course, the clothes were different, and the name was a lot harder to pronounce..."  
At that, Whistler's eyes widened just a little bit - with what appeared to be surprise. After a moment though, he slowly cocked his neck and looked at her curiously. "Well, I'll be... Anyanka?"

At that, Xander's skin turned even paler than before - making him look almost pure white. He then shot his wife an almost pleading look. "You dated that Olaf guy... Hey, I can handle it. He was human when you dated him, at least. You dated Dracula… I'm not going to say anything about that. It's not like you're the only person here who's been taken in by blood-sucking fiends..."

When he said that, he pointedly looked over towards Buffy. She merely forced a smile onto her face and let her eyes threaten him. He stared into her eyes for a moment before quickly gulping and turning back to Anya. "Just tell me that this guy isn't one of your ex's. That's all I ask, just tell me that you never dated him."

Anya looked away from her husband for a second, obviously deep in thought. After a moment though, she turned back towards him and smiled slowly. "Well, we never actually dated… Let's just say that our relationship was short and bitter - a lot like Spike and Buffy's…"

Xander gaped at her for a moment before looking back at Whistler. "Oh God, I think that I'm gonna be sick… No, I know that I'm gonna be sick."

He suddenly grabbed his stomach and dashed towards the backroom. Anya watched him for a moment before letting out a quiet sigh. "Well, it was good to see you again Joh… Um… I mean Whistler. I better go and tell my husband that you aren't one of my ex's - before he leaves me or something."

She quickly hurried after Xander, oblivious to the startled look on both Whistler's and Oz's faces. They didn't go unnoticed, however, by anyone else in the room. Buffy let out a tired sigh as she walked over to where they were standing. "Okay - first of all, I want to know why the two of you are here. Second, I want to know what those looks on your faces were about."  
Willow slowly stepped forward and gently placed her hand on Buffy's shoulder, causing the Slayer to spin around very quickly to face her. The red-haired woman gave her friend a slightly curious look. "And third, most of us would like to be filled in on how you know this Whistler person… Um… Or demon, or…"

Whistler let out a low chuckle as he looked at the recovering witch. "I'm a demon, technically at least. The Powers That Be sent me to New York back in '96 to find a certain vampire with a soul and send him over to California. I took him to LA and showed him a certain new Slayer…"

At that, Buffy shot him a curious look. Whistler merely shrugged his shoulders and went on with his story. "Then I sent him to Sunnydale. I stayed away for about a year, until he had a certain 'moment of happiness' and turned all Angelus…"

Buffy slowly held up her hand to stop him from talking. "He came back to tell me how to kill Angel. So, if you're here to tell me that I have to kill another one of my friends…"

Oz slowly let out a quiet laugh at her words. Almost immediately, everyone turned to stare at him. He quickly stopped laughing and gave them a weak grin. "God, I almost wish that was why we were here. Do you want to tell them, or should I?"

When he didn't get an answer from Whistler, Oz took a deep breath. "We're here to pretty much save the planet. Already, what's supposed to happen here has changed big time. Neither of us can really tell you what was supposed to happen, but I'll tell you now that it's bad. Anyway, we're here to make sure that the prophecy - which I assume you've already heard - doesn't come true. At least, that's why I'm here. The Powers That Be decided that since Cordelia had ascended, they needed someone else to help out the good guys until she came back."

He stopped talking and looked around the room. Everyone had a slightly uncertain look on their face, including Anya and Xander - who were now standing near the back of room. Willow slowly stepped forwards and looked him in the eyes. "I think that I speak for everyone when I ask you 'Huh?'"

* * *

Dawn stifled a yawn as she sat there, listening to Oz's explanation. It wasn't that she was bored, it was just the fact that he had been talking for almost an hour already. Plus, it was getting late - and she had gotten only minimal sleep the night before.

She sat there for a few minutes later before she just couldn't handle it anymore. When she stood up, everyone in the room turned to look at her. Dawn gave them a sleepy smile before turning to her sister. "Buffy, do 'ya think you can find me somewhere half-way comfortable to lie down. I'm about to fall asleep on my feet."

Dawn slowly looked down at the almost invisible bulge in her stomach. "I guess that this little guy is the reason for that, huh?" she asked with a slight grin.

For a minute there was silence in the room. Then Buffy, with a weak smile on her own face, slowly stood up. "Yeah, I guess that's reason, Dawn."

The Slayer looked around the room, noticing the tired looks on everyone's faces for the first time. She let out a quiet sigh before reaching up an rubbing her temple. "I guess that it is getting late. So, I suggest that we all head home for the night."

Buffy paused for a moment and looked at Oz and Whistler for a moment before finally letting her breath out. "You two can stay at my house, if you want. Almost everyone else lives there anyway."

Oz gave her a thankful look, but before he said 'yes', he turned to Willow. "Is that okay with you, Will? Or would you rather me sleep in my van."

Willow looked at Tara for a moment before turning back to Oz with a smile on her face. "I don't have a problem with you staying there."  
The werewolf grinned at her and turned back to Buffy. He slowly nodded his head, causing the Slayer to smile. The smile faded, however, as she turned to Whistler. "Well, are you going to come or not?"

Whistler gave her a cocky grin before answering. "Nah, I can't stay any longer. The Powers have got a different part for me to play in all of this. So, I guess that I'll be going now."

The demon turned and headed for the door. Before he reached it though, he turned and faced Oz. "Remember what I told you to do, kid. You've an important job here, and if you can't handle it..."

Oz let out a tired sigh, cutting Whistler off before he could finish his sentence. "I know what I'm supposed to do, Whistler. First Sunnydale; then Los Vegas; and the Los Angeles. And I'm supposed to fill the guys," he motioned at the group in the Magic Shop, "in on everything, as long as it's after..."

Whistler held up his hand. "Okay then, kid. You've got your instructions, and I've got mine. So, I'll be seeing you folks later."

He started out the door, but before he had stepped outside he paused and looked back. Whistler caught Anya's eye and gave her a wink. "Anyanka - if you ever get tired of that boy, just give me a call."

The demon smirked and walked out of the door. As soon as it had shut, Xander shot a pleading look at his wife. Anya merely smiled and gave him a kiss. After she pulled away, Xander smiled before looking towards Buffy. "Well, Buff - I can see why you dislike the guy."

She rolled her eyes and looked over at Dawn. The teenager shot her a sleepy look and smiled just a little bit. "Can we go home yet, Buffy? I really wasn't kidding about being tired."

* * *

Two cold, red eyes were shining in the pitch darkness. He had been watching the child for months now - feeding on her fear and her worries. She had made him strong, but not strong enough. Not yet, anyway.

It was time for her to become more than afraid, more than terrified... He would give her a choice - show her what could have been. She would slowly, but surely, become lost in his world of darkness and nightmares. There would be nothing her friends could do to help her fight him. He would keep her there until it was time - and then he would strike.

* * *

Dawn moaned slightly in her sleep and turned over. Her face, usually peaceful while she slept, was twisted into a look of pain. Her skin looked pale and waxy, more that of a doll than a living human.

_Everything was dark, so cold... Something was tightening around her - she couldn't breathe... Dawn looked around her, a terrified expression on her young face. "Is someone there!? Please, someone be out there... Someone help me!"_

_She could hear someone whispering her name, over and over. The voice, it was so familiar... Why couldn't she place it? Who was there? "Who's out there? Please, whoever you are... Help me. Please, help me."_

_Her voice was becoming fainter and fainter. She couldn't breath - it was too much of a struggle. "H-help me... Please, help me... Someone, please help me..."_

_There was a flash of light, so bright that it hurt her eyes. She tried to cover them, to stop the brightness from hurting them, but they wouldn't move... The pain was lessening though, she was feeling warmer - her hands were standing to move just a little. She squinted her eyes, trying to see who was there, what the light was... Slowly, a figure appeared. A figure that she had thought - no, that she had hoped - she would never see again. "Drusilla?"_


	17. Chapter 17

_Dawn stared at Drusilla for a moment, unsure of exactly what she was seeing. The vampiress seemed real enough to her, but there was something odd about the whole thing. What was it though?_

_A sudden thought popped into the girl's mind. The last thing she remembered was lying down in her bed - so exhausted that she could barely even think. This was a dream - it had to be. With a relieved sigh, Dawn let a small smile come to her lips. The smile faded, however, as the vampire's eerie laughter filled the void around her._

_Drusilla stepped a little closer, an unusually sane look on her face. Instinctively, Dawn took a step backwards - or at least tried to. Her feet seemed to be made of solid stone - they wouldn't let her move. The teenager slowly took a few deep breaths. "It's just a dream," she whispered quietly. "It's nothing more than a dream."_

_Suddenly, without warning, Drusilla let out another high-pitched laugh. This time, Dawn was able to see her eyes. There was something different in them - something she had never seen before in the vampire's eyes. The teenager's eyes filled with confusion as Drusilla stepped closer and closer to her. What was in them that hadn't been there before? What was it?  
A quiet gasp escaped Dawn's lips as the raven-haired vampiress stopped just a few feet in front of her. She had just realized what was different about the vampire. There wasn't something added to her expression - there was something missing. Every other time Dawn had seen Drusilla, there had been a slight look of helplessness in her eyes - caused by her own lack of sanity. That look wasn't there anymore. She took another deep breath. "This is just a dream. This is just a d-dream. She can't h-hurt me, because this is j-just a dream."_

_Her voice cracked just a little as Drusilla stepped even closer to her. The vampire smiled, something that made Dawn's blood feel as though it was pure ice. Suddenly, she reached her hand out and scratched the side of the girl's face. "Are you sure about that, little one?"_

_The look on Dawn's face was one of terror as she slowly lifted her hand up and touched the side of her face. There was a stream of blood trickling down it. The girl's breath became heavier as a few tears of pain slid down her face. One solitary question popped into her mind. If this was just a dream, how could that have hurt her?_

* * *

Dawn let out a quiet moan as she rolled over just a little. There was a scared look on her sleeping face, and her hands were gripping the bed tightly. To anyone watching, it would seem like she was having nothing more than a bad dream.

That illusion quickly faded away after a few moments. A large, red scratch had appeared on the left side of her face - stretching from the ear all the way to the edge of her lip. The girl's body suddenly stiffened, and she opened her mouth in a silent scream. Not one sound came out though.

* * *

_Dawn stared at Drusilla for a moment, a terrified look on her young face. She took a few deep breaths and tried to make her voice sound a little less shaky. "W-who are you? I know that y-you aren't really Drusilla."_

_The vampire smirked at her just a little before suddenly shifting form. Dawn stared in amazement as the raven-haired vampire slowly turned into someone she hadn't seen in years. Dawn took a shaky breath before saying a word. "M-ms. Calendar?"_

_Jenny Calendar smiled sweetly the young girl, a tender expression on her face. She slowly held out her hand towards her. "Please Dawn, call me Jenny."_

_The teenage girl gave her a slightly frightened look. Ms. Calendar merely looked at her in confusion. After a moment, Dawn finally held out her hand. She flinched just a little as their hands touched. To her surprise though, nothing horrible happened - in fact, she suddenly found herself able to move._

_Suddenly, a blast of warm air swirled around them. Dawn automatically closed her eyes, silently begging for nothing else to go wrong. After a few moments, the wind faded away, and the teenager slowly opened her eyes. She was standing in the middle of a crowd of humans and demons, most of which looked quiet familiar to her for some reason._

_Jenny Calendar suddenly appeared beside her and gently squeezed her hand. Dawn looked at her in confusion. "Ms. Cal... Jenny, will you please tell me what's going on? I-I don't understand."_

_The raven-haired woman smiled gently at Dawn and carefully led her towards a nearby wall - going through several of the people. Dawn's eyes widened with shock as they stepped right through a very drunk-looking human. She turned fearfully towards Ms. Calendar._

_Jenny gave her a tender smile before letting go of her hand. She looked around the room for a moment before smiling and turning back towards Dawn. "I'm a... messenger, you could say. I - and several other people whom you will meet later - are here to offer you a choice. First, I am going to show you what would have happened if you hadn't become pregnant. Then, someone else will show you what will happen in your world if you decide to go back. After that, you will decide where you want to be."_

_Dawn looked at her in confusion for a moment, unsure of what to think. She opened her mouth to ask another question, but quickly closed it when she realized exactly where they were. "Oh my... This is Xander and Anya's wedding. Why are we here?"_

_Jenny didn't say a word, she just nodded her head towards the door - where Xander and Anya were in the middle of a disagreement. Dawn gave her a curious look. "I know what happens - I was here, remember? The two of them talk for a minute - Xander starts to walk off, and then he turns back."  
Ms. Calendar once again nodded her head towards the door. Xander was walking off, and Anya was staring after him with a stricken look on her face. Then, she slowly started walking down the aisle - alone. Dawn slowly held her breath. "Xander should turn back in about five, four, three, two, one..."  
Her eyes widened in shock as Anya reached the end of the aisle. Xander hadn't come back. She let out a quiet gasp and turned to Jenny. "This is impossible... T-they're meant for each other."_

_Jenny merely gave her a smile before reaching over and taking the girl's hand. Without warning, another warm wind suddenly blew all around them. Dawn quickly shut her eyes tightly - not sure that she wanted to see what was coming._

* * *

In her bedroom, Dawn was laying quietly on the bed. She wasn't peacefully sleeping though. There was a stricken look on her face, and her skin was practically white. Her hands were still tightly gripping the bed - so tightly, in fact, that blood was starting to trickle from underneath her nails.

* * *

_Dawn peered around curiously. This time, they were in what appeared to be the Magic Box. She looked over at Jenny Calendar with a slightly confused look on her face. "Jenny, why are we here?"_

_The young woman smiled weakly at Dawn's question and gestured towards the other end of the store. From where they were standing, nothing could be seen. The teenager listened carefully for just a moment, before turning to look at Ms. Calendar in shock. "Someone's over there having..."  
Jenny nodded her head slowly at Dawn's unfinished question. The girl took a deep breath, and then looked up into the woman's eyes. "Can you tell me... W-what I mean is... Who is it?"  
Jenny Calendar gave her a sympathetic look before slowly closing her eyes. The warm wind was suddenly around them again. This time, however, Dawn kept her eyes open. Their surroundings quickly faded away, moving so fast that they weren't much more than a blur. Just a speedily, it was replaced by a new landscape. _

_The two of them were standing outside of the Magic Box. Dawn was just about to ask why they were there, when the door slowly opened and two familiar people walked out - obviously drunk. The young girl immediately looked away, an extremely surprised look on her face.  
She turned back after a few minutes, when she heard the sound of yelling. She didn't dare to even breath as she watched the scene in front of her unfold. Xander was there now, a murderous glint in his eyes. He was going to kill Spike, she knew that he was. Dawn wanted to look away, but she couldn't seem to tear her eyes away from the scene in front of her._

_Suddenly, Buffy was there too. Both she and Anya were protecting Spike, keeping Xander away from him. There was a hurt look in her sister's eyes though. Spike said something - something that Dawn couldn't make out. And then... There was a look of surprise on Xander's face. And then, hatred..._

_Dawn quickly looked away. So, that was how Xander found out about Spike and Buffy in this place. She turned her head back towards Jenny. "Is there anything e-else that I have to watch. Or is that it?"_

_Ms. Calendar gave the girl a sympathetic smile. Then, she slowly gripped the girl's hand. "I'm sorry, Dawn, but we're only getting started."_

* * *

Dawn let out a loud moan in her sleep. The cut on her face had stopped bleeding, but there were still streaks of dried blood all over her left cheek. Where her hands were gripping the bed, there were small spots of blood. Her skin was even paler than before - except now there was a slightly green tinge to it.

* * *

_The young girl turned her head away from the scene in front of her. There were tears streaming down her face as she turned to face Jenny Calendar. "No. I don't... I won't... Spike wouldn't have done that, I know that he wouldn't."_

_Ms. Calendar didn't say a word to her as the surrounding faded away. Now, Spike was in front of them - on his motorcycle. Dawn watched in shock as he revved the motor and quickly sped away. Out of Sunnydale..._

_The warm wind was surrounding them again. Everything was fading in and out... Dawn blinked her eyes suddenly as bright sunlight surrounded them. They were standing outside the Summers' home, in the yard. Xander and Buffy were standing nearby, talking about something. Dawn shot the woman beside her a curious look, but Jenny's eyes never left a spot near the house._

_Dawn fearfully followed Jenny's gaze, and suddenly she saw him. It was the guy who had built the Buffybot. One of those three geeks... Warren, that was his name. Her eyes widened in shock as he lifted a gun and suddenly started shooting. She saw her sister suddenly drop to the ground, blood billowing from the bullet hole in her chest._

_She wanted to run to Buffy, to hold her close. The scene was already fading though. Suddenly, she and Jenny were standing in Willow and Tara's room. The two of them were standing there talking._

_Suddenly, Dawn heard the gunshots. It was him - Warren - shooting down in the front yard. Without thinking, she turned her head expectantly towards Tara. She was still a witch... She could get down to the yard and help Buffy. There was something wrong with Tara though._

_Dawn watched in shock as blood suddenly appeared on Tara's shirt. Then, the blonde-haired woman sank to the floor. Willow was standing there in shock, in horror. Dawn turned away, trying her best not to look. She couldn't help it though. Without wanting to, she slowly turned her head back towards Willow and Tara._

_She let out a gasp as she caught sight of Willow's eyes. They were black - full of hatred and anger. And magic. Dawn turned back to Jenny, her eyes begging not to see anymore. Ms. Calendar didn't say a word though. She just grabbed Dawn's hand as the scene around them faded away. Without even meaning to, Dawn let out a strangled cry. "No! Someone help!"_

* * *

In a crypt across town, a vampire with bleached-blonde hair suddenly bolted into a sitting position. He spun his head around, trying to figure out what had woken him up. After a moment, a curious expression slowly came to his face. There was nobody there.

Suddenly, he felt something. It wasn't really a presence, but more of a wisp. Like someone was calling out to him over a large distance. He cocked his head slightly, trying to figure out exactly what he had heard. Suddenly, he heard something. It was quiet, but distinct. "Someone help!"

His eyes widened in shock as he recognized what he was hearing. Without pausing, he jumped up and headed for the door to the crypt. "Bloody hell, why do things always happen to her in the middle of the night!?"

* * *

_Dawn turned her head away from Willow with a sick feeling in her stomach. The scenes had been changing more and more quickly. One minute, Willow had been saving Buffy's life - the next, she had been torturing Warren to death. Now, she was attempting to destroy the planet - at least, that's what it appeared like to Dawn._

_Before she could see what happened, the scenes changed again. Now, she was watching Spike. She didn't know where he was, but her eyes widened as she watched what he was going through. Suddenly, a large demon was standing in front of him. It was saying something, but she couldn't make out what. Then, it reached out towards Spike and touched his chest. Immediately, he was yelling in pain and anguish. He was..._

_Everything faded away, and Dawn suddenly found herself back in the dark void where she had started out. She looked around fearfully for a moment, looking for Ms. Calendar. "Ms. C-calendar? Jenny? Are you there? Please... t-tell me what happened. What did Willow do, and what was t-that thing with Spike? W-what happened next?"  
She looked down towards the ground as she realized that no one was going to answer her questions. Suddenly, she felt something appear. There was someone - or something - there with her. And it was coming towards her._

_Dawn looked up, trying to figure out what she sensed. She didn't have to look long. Within moments, a familiar form had appeared out of the shadows. Her eyes widened in shock as she looked at the figure. "Mom?"_

* * *

Spike pulled his motorcycle to a halt in the yard, right in front of the Summers' porch. He grinned just a little as lights suddenly flickered on all over the house. The grin faded, however, as soon as he looked up towards Dawn's room. It was still dark.

Without pausing, he went up the steps and gave the locked kitchen door a heavy kick - causing it swing open and bang against the wall. He started in the house, and suddenly found a crossbow aimed right at his heart. 

As soon as she saw who it was, Buffy stopped aiming the crossbow. There was an angry look on her face though. Before either of them could say a word, several voices could be heard. Within moments, there was a large crowd of people standing right outside of the kitchen. Dawn wasn't one of them.

Spike didn't even think. He pushed past Buffy, shoved his way through the group of people, and started up the stairs. He didn't get far though. Within moments, Buffy had somehow managed to get in front of him. There was a look of pure anger on her face as she stared at him. "What the hell are you doing!?"

He looked her right in the eyes. For a moment she glared at him, but the anger in her eyes quickly faded into worry. And concern. Spike stared at her for just a moment before answering the unasked question in her eyes. "I think something's wrong with the 'Lil Bit."

Buffy stared at him for a moment before looking down at the group of people at the bottom of stairs. There was Willow, Tara, Oz... Giles was standing right outside the living room... Dawn wasn't there. She looked into his eyes for a moment before turning and running up the stairs, followed by Spike.

When she reached Dawn's room, she paused for just a moment. Then, she quickly opened the door and hurried into the room. As soon as she saw her sister, she let out a loud gasp. Spike quickly turned on the light as he walked into the room. His own eyes widened just a little as he saw Dawn laying on the bed.

The bright red scratch on her cheek was bleeding again, shining brightly on her pale, almost-white skin. There was a terrified look frozen on her face, and her fingernails were bleeding quite a bit as she clutched the bed. As both he and Buffy watched in horror, several marks suddenly appeared on her hands - as though someone was clutching her hand with their fingernails cutting into it.

* * *

In its dark world, the creature once again opened his bright red eyes. There was a look of mirth in them now, as he watched his young opponent. She was young, but she was smart. That was for certain. Even now, she was still resisting the full affects of his spell. She wouldn't be for long though. She couldn't. In just a few hours, he would win - and there would be no way to stop the prophecy from being fulfilled. No way.


	18. Chapter 18

_Dawn let out a frightened moan as Joyce Summers dug her nails into the teen's hands. A terrified look appeared in the girl's eyes as a thought suddenly popped into her mind. "God, I'm so stupid... You aren't real - and neither was Ms. Calendar. Both of you are just... part of whatever this place is."_

_She looked around at the void, a scared look on her young face. Something that Jenny had told her earlier flashed in her mind. "W-what she finished showing me was what the world would have been like without my getting pre... Without the baby. Y-you're here to show me what our world will be like if I go through with my pregnancy."_

_The scared look in her eyes was slowly being replaced by a confident one. It faded away, however, as soon as the figure of Joyce Summers spoke. "That's about it, Dawnie. I'm here to show you what will happen when the prophecy is fulfilled."_

_Dawn started just a little at the way her moth... the whatever-it-was emphasized the words 'will' and 'when.' Slowly she turned to face Joyce. "Y-you mean 'if', right? There isn't a guarantee that the prophecy will be carried out. I mean, if we try..."_

_She was cut off by the same eerie laughter that had been coming from Drusilla earlier. This time, however, it was coming from her mother. "Foolish brat! Do you really think you can defeat me!? Just look and see what will become of your world when I am released!"  
Dawn shivered as a cold wind suddenly blew around her. It held none of the warmth and familiarity of the other wind. She moaned slightly as the world around her blurred. Quickly, the darkness was replaced by the brightness of the sun._

_Her eyes widened in shock as she looked around her. The figure of her mother had disappeared, and she was now standing - by herself - on a large hill that overlooked Sunnydale. Or at least, what had once been Sunnydale._

_In this world, the town was nothing more than ruin. The buildings were in disrepair, and the stench of death was everywhere. Suddenly, without warning, Dawn felt herself falling. She closed her eyes for just a moment and suddenly found herself standing in what she recognized as her front yard - even though the grass and flowers there were the brown color of death._

_Dawn took a few steps towards her house and was almost overwhelmed by the stench of decaying flesh. Her breath was ragged, and there were tears welling up in her eyes. There was a terrified look in her eyes, and she wanted nothing more than to not go inside her house. It was as if her feet weren't listening to her though. They were moving her onwards._

_Slowly and carefully she stepped onto the porch. It creaked under her weight, but it didn't break. With a quiet sob, she pushed open the door... and almost fainted at the sight in front of her. There were four bodies laying there, decayed to a point almost beyond recognition. Almost. "Xander, Anya, Willow, Tara..."_

* * *

Dawn's body suddenly went even more rigid than before, and her breathing starting coming out in shallow gasps. There were tears streaming from her closed eyes, and terrified moans were coming from her lips. Buffy looked at her sister in fear, unsure of what to do. There was nothing they could do.

With a shaky breath, the Slayer slowly looked around the room. Spike was sitting on the opposite side of the bed, gently stroking Dawn's rigid arm. She couldn't help but smile just a little at his obvious affection for her baby sister.

It took her a moment to tear her eyes away from the vampire, but after a few moments she did. Xander was sitting on the floor - Anya sleeping beside him with her head on his lap. The two of them had shown up just minutes after Willow had called them with the news. Speaking of which, Willow and Tara were standing beside the door, their hands holding onto each other's. Giles was sitting in a nearby chair, trying his best to blink back sleep. And Oz... She blinked just a minute as she looked at Oz.

With an upset look on her face, Buffy pulled herself to her feet. Then, with a deadly look in her eyes, she walked over to Oz. "I saw the look on your face... You know what's going on. What the hell is wrong with her!?"

* * *

_Dawn's vision blurred with tears as she turned away from the scene in front of her with a gasp of horror. Without even thinking, she turned and dashed from the scene. As soon as she stepped onto the porch though, her world started to spin._

_She closed her eyes against the spinning world and desperately clenched her fists. After a few moments, she felt a heavy thud as she fell to the cold ground. With a shudder, she gingerly opened her eyes. Her eyes widened in shock as she looked at a large building in front of her. She had never been here before, but over the last few years she had heard plenty about it. "The Hyperion..."_

_With fear laying heavily in her heart, she slowly pulled herself to her feet - and let out a loud gasp as she looked around at the city that lay around her. Los Angeles was almost as bad as Sunnydale - a ghost town._

_There was a terrified look in her face as she slowly took a few steps towards the entrance to the hotel. It was the same as back in Sunnydale. She wanted nothing more than to run, but her feet were forcing her to move forwards._

_Dawn's breath was coming in shallow gasps as she stepped forwards and swung open one of the doors to the building. The smell of decay was even stronger than at her house, so strong that she could barely bear it. Her mind was screaming at her to run, to get away from this place. She could do nothing but move forwards though._

_Her eyes were streaming as she moved onwards. Even though she had never been here before, she somehow knew where to go. She paused outside of an office, where the stench of death was the strongest. Holding back tears, she pushed open the door and peered in. As soon as she did, her stomach felt as if it was about to fold inwards. There were five bodies this time, laying side by side. She recognized three of them: Giles, Oz, and Wesley. She had never seen the other two, but she immediately knew who they were: Angel's friends, Gunn and Fred._

_Fighting back tears, she shut the door firmly behind her. Then she took a shaky breath and prepared herself for the next scene. The world didn't start fading though. Instead, her feet forced her to move onwards, towards the stairs._

_With a feeling of despair in her stomach, she slowly started up the creaking stairs. What nightmare was she going to be shown this time? Her question was answered as soon as she reached the top of the stairs. The first thing that she saw was a pile of dust, which was partly covered by a very familiar duster. "Spike..."_

* * *

Buffy stepped closer to Oz, a look of both anger and hope on her face. "Oz, if you know what's wrong with her... Y-you have to tell us."

The young man gave her a rare smile as he looked over at Dawn, who was still laying rigid on the bed. Then, with a sigh, he looked back at Buffy. "She's being... I guess that 'tested' is a good enough word. Whistler warned me that this might happen. She's being shown other... ways that the future could play out. The 'creature of darkness', or whatever you want to call him, is trying to convince her to give into fear."

Oz let out another quiet sigh as he looked back over at Dawn. "It's up to her. If she gives in... Let's just say that we won't have to worry about stopping the prophecy."

* * *

_Dawn wiped away the tears that were swimming in her eyes as she stepped past the pile of dust. The smell of decaying flesh was becoming stronger again. With a weak shudder, she slowly walked up to a closed door. She didn't know why, but she felt compelled to open it, to look inside. With a terrified sigh, she slowly pushed open the door - and felt the last bit of strength in her fade away. There were four more bodies there - and another pile of dust. That would be Angel. And the bodies... One was that of a demon, which she assumed must be the Lorne that she had heard about. The other three were all women - Cordelia, what appeared to be Faith... and Buffy._

_Dawn slammed the door shut and dropped down to her knees. Until now, she had been able to handle everything that had been thrown at her. Everything... But not this. She couldn't hand this. "Please, no more..."_

_The shadowy figure of her mother suddenly appeared before her. There was a cold look on Joyce's face, and her mouth was twisted into an amused grin. "But Dawnie, there's one more thing that you need to see."_

* * *

Spike looked around the room for a moment, at all of the people sleeping. Even now, what his unlife was like surprised him. Just a few years ago, these people wouldn't have wanted to be in the same country as him. Now, they trusted him to be in the same room where they were sleeping. 'Of course,' he thought with a wry grin. 'The chip in my head probably has a lot to do with that.'

He looked over at the other side of the bed, where Buffy was resting peacefully. She had her hand on Dawn's arm though, so that she would wake up in an instant if something happened to the 'Lil Bit. Speaking of which...

The vampire smiled gently as he stroked the young girl's hair. She was like a little sister, or maybe even a daughter, to him. He didn't know when he had started to think of her that way, but he did.

A slightly distant look appeared in his eyes as he looked down at the pained look on her face. He would give almost anything to be able to help her. There wasn't anything he could do though. Not a thing.

Spike slowly reached over and gently placed his hand over one of hers. She looked so weak and helpless - and it was breaking his heart. Or, at it would if he had one. "Don't give up, Nibblet. Just don't give up."

* * *

_Dawn turned her head away from the scene in front of her with a horrified look in her eyes. She had no clue where she was now, but she knew very well who the bodies in front of her belonged to. The teenage girl over there had to be her. And the boy who had his arms wrapped protectively around her must be Angel's son, Connor._

_Tentatively, she looked back over at the far corner of the small room. There was something moving over there. Something that was wrapped up in a loose blanket. She didn't want to go over there. She didn't want to see what was there. Her feet weren't listening to her though - it was as if they had a mind of their own._

_With shaking hands, Dawn reached over and carefully pulled the blanket down just a little. As soon as she did, a shocked gasp leapt from her lips. There was a baby girl there - a beautiful baby girl. The child was only a few days old, but she already had a head full of raven hair. Her eyes were bright green, and she was beautiful._

_There was something wrong with the baby though. Dawn didn't know what it was, but there was something wrong. What was it though? Curiously, she reached her long, slender hand down to stroke the child's hair. As soon as she touched the baby though, she drew back her hand in alarm. The baby was smile, giggling... acting like any normal child would. Except for one thing - this baby was now wearing the face of a vampire._

_Tears once again blurred Dawn's vision as she reeled away from the child... her baby. She couldn't take anything else - she just couldn't. "Please, no more... I c-can't stand anything else. Please."_

_The scene around her faded away, and a few moments later she once again found herself in the shapeless void. She turned around, trying with all her might to find someone... something. She was alone, though. All alone._

_Dawn's eyes were filing with tears as she looked around frantically, looking for someone... anyone. After a few moments, a shadowy form slowly stepped from the shadows. It wasn't Drusilla, or Jenny Calendar, or Joyce Summers though._

_Dawn stared for a moment, trying to place the girl who was standing in front of her. She seemed so familiar, and she couldn't be more than a few years older than Dawn herself. Suddenly, a name that she hadn't heard in years popped into her mind. Someone that she herself had only met twice. "K-Kendra?"_

_The former Slayer nodded her head gently before slowly gliding over to where Dawn was standing. Kendra stared into the girl's eyes for a moment, reading them like a book. Then, a wisp of a smile appeared on her face. "I am here to offer you a choice."_

_Dawn nodded her head slightly as she looked into the eyes of the once Slayer. "I know. W-what exactly are my choices?"_

_Kendra smiled gently at the girl, obviously trying to put her to ease. It only succeeded in sending shivers down Dawn's spine though. "Well, zese are ze choices. You have seen what ze world is like without zis child. You can give up ze baby, and live zere - if you want."_

_Dawn placed her hands protectively over her stomach before giving Kendra a defiant stare. "I don't think so. It might not have been as bad the future that I saw... But it was definitely bad."_

_Kendra gave another one of her eerie smiles as she leaned in closer to the girl. "Well, you could just go back to your home. Of course, ze future that you saw is almost guaranteed."_

_Dawn gulped just a little as she thought about the place she had just seen. The death, the destruction, the... Her ears picked up just a little. Was it her, or had she just heard Kendra say 'almost' guaranteed?_

_The former Slayer continued on, unaware that she had said anything that might give Dawn even a little bit of hope. "Zen of course, you could always stay here. You would live, ze baby would live..."_

_A small smart of hope was growing inside of Dawn as she suddenly realized what was going on. Until now, she hadn't been completely sure why she was here or what was happening. Now, she knew. With a defiant look in her eyes, the young girl looked Kendra right in the eyes. "I want to go home."  
Kendra's eyes flashed with anger for just a moment before she let out an unearthly roar and faded away. After just a moment though, a dark figure appeared where she had been standing. Dawn's legs were quaking with fear, but she stood straight and tall. "You wanted to scare me, so that I would stay here. I'm not giving in, though. My friends and I will beat you. I know that they will."_

_The dark figure stood still for a moment, before it's eyes slowly opened. They were as red as blood, and they seemed to be older than time itself. Dawn felt her breath catch in her throat as she stared at this creature. She was cold, so cold... And everything seemed to be fading away..._

_Dawn felt the world collapsing around her, and then she started to fall. She was reaching out, trying to catch hold of something - but there was nothing there. Her eyes were filling with tears as memories flooded her mind. They might just be pictures planted in her head by the monks, but in her mind they were as real as anything._

_Everything seemed to be fading into darkness, and there was a loud roaring in her mind. She felt her mind start to crumble - there was nothing she could do. And then, like a beacon, she heard a voice. It was quiet at first, almost unnoticeable because of the roaring that was in her head. After a few moments though, it became louder. And louder. Who was it though? What was it saying? "Don't give up, Nibblet. Just don't give up."_

_Her eyes widened in shock as she heard the words clearly. It was Spike - but where was he? Why hadn't she seen him in the world of darkness? A sudden thought appeared in mind. The last thing she had remembered doing - before she found herself in the void - was going to bed in her room. Could it possibly be that her body had never left there? Kind of like when the First Slayer had attacked Buffy, Xander, Willow, and Giles a few years earlier? If that was the case, then all she had to do to escape this place was to force herself to wake up._

* * *

Spike had slowly been drifting off to sleep when he heard the quiet moaning coming from Dawn's lips. It was different that earlier though. Instead of sounding like she was in pain, it sounded more like she was straining to do something. Like wake up... His eyes widened just a little, and he quickly gave her hand a gentle squeeze. "Come on Dawn, you can do this."  
Her eyes suddenly flew open, and almost immediately her body relaxed. Buffy sat up with a start, and her eyes quickly went over to where her sister was laying. The Slayer's eyes widened in shock, and she quickly reached over and squeezed Dawn's hand. As she did, her eyes wandered just a little past Dawn and focused on Spike. They stared at each other for just a moment before both of them quickly looked away.  
Dawn stared at the two of them in shock for a moment, her mind still trying to figure out what was going on. After a few seconds though, she let out a gasp and pulled herself up into a sitting position. As soon as she had, her body began to sway - causing both Buffy and Spike to reach out to steady her.  
She looked at the two of them for a moment, thousands of emotions running through her young face. All traces of innocence had been erased from her eyes, and she looked like she had literally seen hell. With a shuddery gasp, she looked around the room at the group of people who were all starting to wake up.  
Her eyes filled with tears as she looked down at her hands, which Joyce's fingernails had cut deeply into. Then, she carefully reached up and touched her face, where Drusilla had left a painful marking. So, it had been real. All of it.  
Without saying a word, Dawn looked at Buffy with a look of pure terror in her eyes. The Slayer slowly leaned over and wrapped her arms around her sister. Within moments, Dawn had let all of her barriers down and was sobbing freely in her sister's embrace. Buffy and Spike shared a shocked glance before he slowly moved closer to them and gently stroked the terrified girl's hair. "Don't worry, everything's going to be fine."


	19. Chapter 19

Dawn lay on her bed, her eyes closed tightly as she tried not to think about what she had seen the night before. The images in her mind wouldn't fade away though. There just didn't seem to be anything else to think about - nothing to take her mind off of the horrible pictures in her mind.

Slowly she opened her eyes just a bit. The others were still spread around her room, all of them asleep except for her. Xander and Anya were still laying on the floor, wrapped up in each other's arms. Willow and Tara had moved away from the door and were now sitting in chairs near the window. Giles was still in his chair, and Oz was leaning against the wall near the door.

Without opening her eyes more than a crack, she turned her head slightly. Buffy was on her knees to Dawn's right, her head resting on the bed beside her sister. Slowly, Dawn turned her head to the left. Spike was there, sitting much like Buffy was.

With a nervous sigh, she slowly closed her eyes once again. As soon as she did, the image of all of them laying dead on the ground popped back into her head. She let out an almost inaudible moan as she, unsuccessfully, tried to erase the picture from her mind.

* * *

There was but darkness, cold and deathlike. It seemed impossible that anything could survive. Suddenly, two red eyes started to glow vividly in the utter darkness around them. The sound of cruel laughter filled the dark void. 

The red eyes blinked once or twice, as if startled by the loudness of the laughter. After a moment though, a cold voice rang out through the void. "Everything will be ready soon. Yes, very soon indeed."

* * *

Spike awoke with a start as he felt a sharp, burning pain shoot up his right arm. He cursed silently as he frantically tried to put out the flames that were shooting from his hand, thanks to the open window near Dawn's bed.

Dawn's eyes flew open as she felt Spike jerk away from the edge of her bed. Her eyes wandered fearfully around the room, trying to catch sight of the blonde-haired vampire. As soon as she saw his frantic attempts to put out his flaming arm though, the horrible events of the past night seemed to fade away.

Trying not to burst into laughter, she watched as he put out the last flame. After a moment though, she couldn't hold it in any longer. Several quiet giggles escaped her lips before she could stop them, causing Spike to spin towards her with an annoyed look on his face.

The laughter on her lips died as she caught sight of his burned hand. Normally it wouldn't have bothered her, but today she couldn't help but be reminded of the bodies of her friends that she had seen so vividly the night before.

The familiar bitter taste appeared in her throat, and she practically threw herself out of bed. She didn't know whether it was morning sickness or the scenes in her head, but she felt as if her stomach was about to be turned inside out. Without saying a word, she pushed by the still-smoking vampire and dashed towards the nearest bathroom.

Spike watched her for just a second before letting out a sigh and following after her. Even though he knew that it was probably just morning sickness, he knew that it could have something to do with whatever she had gone through the night before.

By the time he had reached the bathroom, Dawn was already leaning over the toilet - her face looking even paler than his. After a moment or two, she looked up at him with a terrified look in her eyes. 

Quickly he hurried over to her, unsure of exactly what she wanted. Before he had even gotten near to her though, he sensed what was wrong. Within moments he was standing over her shoulder, his pale skin seeming even paler than usual. With worry shining in his blue eyes, he quickly turned towards the door. "Slayer!"

* * *

Buffy's eyes shot open when she heard Spike's voice echoing throughout the house. She quickly pulled herself up into a standing position and dashed for the door to Dawn's room. Before she got there though, she stumbled over Xander - who was just starting to pull himself up into a sitting position. 

She automatically grabbed the edge of Dawn's dresser, trying to keep herself from falling. When she did though, it jarred it just enough to knock to the floor the lamp that was sitting on it.

The Slayer flinched as the glass bulb inside of it smashed, causing a sound that was loud enough to wake the others in the room immediately. Anya shot up into a sitting position suddenly, almost crashing into Xander's back. Willow's, Tara's, and Oz's eyes all shot open and started looking frantically around the room. Giles didn't even open his eyes as he quickly tried to stand up from his chair, which caused a slight problem as his glasses slid off of his lap and landed on the floor with a quiet thud.

At that, the Watcher's eyes shot open. He let out a quiet moan as he caught sight of the left lens in them, which now had a large crack running up the middle of it. With an annoyed look in his eyes, he leaned down to pick them up. Then he turned back to his Slayer, who was still standing near the dresser with a sheepish look on her face.

Buffy gave him an apologetic look and started to say something. Her words were cut short, however, as Spike's voice once again rang through the house. "Slayer! Get the bloody hell in here!"

She shot Giles another apologetic look before hurrying out of the room. She could already tell where his voice was coming from. There was an annoyed look on her face as she dashed into the bathroom.

The annoyed look quickly faded as soon as she caught sight of both Spike and her sister. There was obviously something wrong. For a moment, Buffy just stood there in the doorway, an uncertain shining in her eyes. "What's wrong?"

Spike turned towards her, a worried look in his usually cocky eyes. Then, without saying a word, he looked down at Dawn - who was still gagging into the toilet. Buffy gave him a slightly curious look before walking over to where her sister was kneeling. As soon as she did, however, she felt her legs start to quake. Her voice trembled as she turned towards the door and called out loudly, "Xander, get your car ready! We're going to the hospital! Now!"

A slight look of panic was quickly growing in her eyes as she looked down at her sister, who was now moaning quietly. Her eyes didn't stop on Dawn though. They traveled past her, and then landed on the large amount of blood that was mixed with the teenage girl's vomit. "Xander, now!"

* * *

Buffy leaned against Giles, her breath coming out in shaky gasps. They had been in the hospital's waiting room was almost a half-hour now, and there had still been on news of Dawn. Trying her best to hold back tears, the Slayer let her eyes slowly move around the room.

Xander and Anya were sitting across from them, an especially worried look on Anya's face. She kept looking towards the door that Dawn had been taken through, and then looking down at her own stomach. It was obvious to Buffy that the ex-demon was concerned about the welfare of her own unborn child. She forced a small, reassuring smile to appear on her face as she caught Anya's eyes.

After a moment, Buffy let her eyes wander past the two of them. She couldn't help but smile just a little when she caught site of Willow and Tara. The two of them were sitting beside each other, their hands clinging to each others. It was obvious that the two of them had put aside any problems that they were still having.

The smile on her face faded away as she looked over towards Oz. He was sitting a few seats away from all of them, an extremely worried look on his face. When he noticed Buffy's gaze on him, he quickly tried to force his face to look unconcerned. It didn't help though. Buffy could feel the tears in her eyes, straining to be let free so that they could start streaming down her face. 

Giles looked down at her with a concerned look on his face, but she gave him a teary smile and looked down at her hands. She had stopped who-knows-how-many apocalypses, killed more demons and vampires than she could count... God, she had even died twice herself. But, until now, she had never felt so helpless.

Buffy's head jerked up suddenly when she heard a loud crash and a strangled cry coming from the other side of the room. Pushing all of her worried thoughts out of her mind, she quickly jumped to her feet. When she saw what the commotion was though, she couldn't help but give a slightly amused snort.

A gray-haired woman in a nurse's uniform was standing right in front of the door, a fearful look in her eyes. She was holding a chain out in front of her, on which a large silver cross was hanging. Standing in front of her was a familiar, platinum-blonde vampire... who was smoking slightly from a patch of sunlight that was streaming in through a nearby window. There was an extremely annoyed look on his face as he caught Buffy's eyes. "A little help here, Slayer."

Buffy stood there for a moment, seriously considering just letting the nurse keep him out there. After a few minutes, however, her conscious got the better of her. She quickly searched her mind for the nurse's name, almost certain that the older woman had been there when her mom had been in the hospital. The Slayer's eyes lit up just a little as the woman's name suddenly popped into her mind. "Rachel."

The older woman looked over at Buffy, a startled look in her eyes. Buffy gave her a slightly reassuring look. "It's okay, he's with us. You can let him in - we promise that he'll behave."

Rachel looked at the young woman in front of her for a moment with an amazed look on his face. Then she looked back at Spike, who had moved over just a little so that he wasn't standing in direct sunlight. A dubious look appeared on her face, but she slowly put the cross back around her neck. Spike quickly pushed past her, heading over to where the others were watching with amused looks on their faces. "Any news on the Nibblet?"  
The amused looks quickly faded as they shook their heads regretfully. He let out a sigh and sank down into a nearby seat. Buffy watched him for just a moment, a slightly startled look in her eyes as she saw just how much he cared for her sister. She quickly looked away from him, though, when he looked up. Without saying a word, she quickly walked back to her seat and sat down.

* * *

A shocked look appeared on Bill Johnson's face as he listened to someone speaking on the other end of his phone. "Are you sure about that, sir? I mean, you're absolutely certain that the girl is... Yes, I see. Of course, I'll be there immediately."

He hung up the phone, the shocked look still apparent on his face. For a moment, he just sat in his chair, then he suddenly seemed to snap out of his daze. He quickly stood up, and walked towards an office near the back of the room he was in. Without stopping, he stuck his head in the door and caught the eyes of the man that was sitting in front of the desk. "I'll be back in a little while, Jim. I just got a call from Sunnydale General - it looks like there might be a problem with one of my cases."

* * *

Buffy looked up, a startled expression on her face. It quickly faded into a worried expression as she stood up and faced the doctor that had just walked into the waiting room. "Is my sister going to be okay?"

The doctor gave her a reassuring smile as he nodded his head. "Yes, your sister is going to be fine, Miss Summers. We've given her some medication to stop the bleeding." The smile faded just a little as he looked at Buffy closely. "I assume that you already know about her... predicament."

Buffy gave him a slight nod, before looking back at her friends. "Yeah, I already know, Doctor..." She quickly looked at the nametag hanging on the front of his clothes. "Smith... Can we go see her?"

Doctor Smith nodded his head slowly. "Yes, I see no harm in that. We've given her something to help her sleep at the moment though, so you might want to wait a little while before you go to see her."

The Slayer gave him a relieved smile as she nodded her head. Then, as he left the room, she walked back over and collapsed into the chair beside Giles. "She's going to be absolutely fine. She's going to be fine."

No one said a word for several minutes, as if they were hesitant to break the relieved. The silence was broken, however, by the sound of someone clearing their throat. Everyone turned towards the door at the end of the room, where a rather handsome, middle-aged man was standing. He gave a slight smile as he caught sight of Buffy. "Hello there, Miss Summers. I'm sure that you remember me."

There was a scared look in Buffy's eyes as she gave him a slight nod. "Bill Johnson, from Social Services. You took over for Doris Kroger after I... after she had her breakdown."

He nodded as he looked the young woman in the eyes. "You see Miss Summers, I received a very interesting phone call earlier today. One that involved your sister, Dawn, being pregnant. Now, would you like to offer an explanation for this? I'd very much like to hear it."


	20. Chapter 20

Bill Johnson took a small step backwards as the young, blonde woman stood up to face him. The scared look in her eyes had started to fade, and there was something shining in them now that he couldn't describe. It seemed to be a mix of fear, anger, confusion, and several other emotions that you wouldn't expect to see in the eyes of someone as young as her - even if she did live in Sunnydale. Buffy Summers was a good three inches shorter than him, but he sensed that it might not be very smart to make this girl angry.

She took another step towards him and looked straight into his eyes. He stared at her for a moment, slightly surprised at just how old her eyes looked. After a moment, she slowly turned her gaze from him and back towards the large group of people that had been sitting around her. 

Bill watched, slightly impressed, as the young woman seemed to be having a silent conversation with several of her friends. After a few minutes, she slowly turned back to face him, a look of determined surpassing all of the other emotions that were in her eyes. "You're right about my sister. She went out one night; she got stupid; she got raped. I'm pretty sure that you already knew that though, or you wouldn't be here now. So the question is, what are you here for?"

Johnson opened his mouth to speak, but he didn't have a chance to. Before he could even say one word, one of the woman's friends - a young man with dark hair - stood up, a cocky look on his face. "I bet that I know why you're here. I hate to disappoint you, but you're not going to take Dawn away from her family."

As soon as he had stopped talking, the young woman beside him pulled herself to her feet. "As my husband was saying, you're not going to be taking the girl anywhere. I know about this country's laws, and I am more than willing to part with some of my hard-earned profits to make sure that we can keep her."

A slightly thoughtful expression crossed her face for a moment, and she quickly turned towards the man that she had referred to as her husband. "Xander, do you think that I might find a way for the money to be tax deductible?"

The young man, Xander, blanched slightly as he turned towards his wife. Then, with an exasperated sigh, he shook his head. "Ahn, honey... Remember what I told you about friends being much more important than money?"

Before the woman could retort, another one of the group stood up. She had vivid red hair, and there was something in her eyes that made Bill wonder if she might not be even more dangerous than Buffy Summers. "You're not going to take Dawn anywhere."

As she finished, a pretty young woman with blonde hair stood up beside her. This woman didn't say a word, instead she placed her hand on the red-haired woman's arm and squeezed it reassuringly. By now, Bill couldn't help letting a slightly amused look appear in his eyes.

In an instant, the man with blonde-white hair was on his feet - his face suddenly livid with anger. Bill blinked just a moment as the man's face seemed to transform for just a minute. It seemed to be normal when he opened his eyes again though, so he quickly blamed it on the light. He hoped. "So mate, you think this is funny? Well, I'm going to show you just how bloody funny this can..."

Johnson gulped slightly and was starting to wonder whether he should wait for another time to deliver his news. He slowly started backing away, his hand unconsciously reaching for the silver cross that he had worn around his neck ever since he had moved to the town, when he heard the sound of someone clearing their throat. Quickly he turned his gaze back to Buffy, just as she snapped her fingers to get her friends' attention. "Spike, drop it. The same goes for all of you. Let me handle this."

Before she could say another word, Bill quickly stepped forwards. "As interesting as all of this is, I'd like to point out that I'm not here to take your sister, Dawn, away from you. She's almost sixteen already, and it appears that she is being taken care of very well where she is."  
At the sound of that looks of confusion, shock, and sheepishness appeared on the faces of almost everyone gathered in the waiting room. Bill smiled gently before turning towards the two men who still remained sitting. "May I assume that one of you is Mr. Rupert Giles?"

* * *

Dawn yawned sleepily as she opened her eyes. As soon as they were open though, she felt the yawn catch in her throat. She wasn't at home in bed, instead she was in what appeared to be... "God, what am I doing in the hospital?"

The young girl carefully sat up, making sure not to touch the IV that in her arm. There was a confused look in her eyes, and for a moment she couldn't seem to put together why she was in the hospital. After a moment though, memories from the past night and morning seemed to burst back into her mind.

As she thought about what she had seen in her dream... or vision... or prophecy... or whatever it was, she shivered slightly. The images didn't seem nearly as sharp as earlier though, so she didn't feel any nausea. Dawn gasped suddenly as she remembered what had happened that morning, when she had been in the bathroom after she had seen...

Panicking slightly, Dawn pushed her right hand down on her stomach. After a moment, she let out a slight sigh of relief. The baby was still there, nothing bad had happened... She suddenly let out a slightly hysterical laugh. 

"Yeah, nothing bad happened. Just some ancient evil... demony... thing, that got into my head and messed with my mind. All because I'm pregnant by some guy that I barely even remember, 'cause I was so drunk that I probably didn't even know who I was. By the way, I'm only two years old - 'cause before that I was a blob of bright green energy. God, my life sucks."

The laughter died away as she sank back down onto the bed. There were a few tears in the corners of her eyes, and she quickly reached up and wiped them away. After a few minutes though, a sudden thought popped into her mind. If she was here, in a hospital bed, where were the other guys?

* * *

Bill Johnson gave Buffy one more smile before he stepped through the door and out of sight. The Slayer stood still for a moment, a slightly shocked look still in her eyes as she looked down at the piece of paper that the man had handed her. Then, with tears starting to brim in her eyes, she turned towards Giles. 

Without saying a word, he opened his arms, and she practically threw herself into them. Her voice cracked ever so slightly as she looked into his eyes. "Thank you. God, thank you so much. I can't believe that you managed to convince the Council to do this, and without wanting anything in return."

Her former Watcher gave her a weak smile as she stepped back away from him. Then, without hesitating, he pulled off his glasses and wiped them off. "Well, I really don't that the word 'convinced' is adequate. I had to pull in quite a few favors."

Buffy gave a quiet snort of laughter as Giles put his glasses back onto his face. "And throw several punches, if I know the Council."

Giles didn't say a word, instead he merely gave her a tight-lipped smile. The Slayer gave him another happy grin in return before turning to face her friends. "And you guys were planning on helping me keep Dawn, no matter what."

Her eyes were brimming in tears again as she wrapped her arms around Xander and gave him a tight hug. She quickly pulled away and embraced Anya though, when the ex-demon gave her a look that clearly stated that she wanted no one but her to have their hands on him. Smiling slightly, Buffy then moved on to Oz.

A slightly uncomfortable look appeared on both of their faces as they stared at each other. Self-consciously, Buffy held out her hand towards him. The two of them quickly pulled away, and the Slayer then turned towards Willow and Tara. 

After a few moments of embracing the two of them, Buffy turned towards Spike. She looked at him for just a moment before grimacing slightly and turned back towards Giles. The vampire was quick to let out an indignant cry. "Fine then, Slayer. It's not like I did anything to help, is it!?"

Xander rolled his eyes and let out an exasperated sigh. "God Spike, just give it up already. Whatever there was between the two of you is over."

Spike's eyes flashed for just an instant, and it appeared that he might just test how much harm he could do to Xander before the chip went off. A familiar smirk came to his face though, and the vampire slowly let his fists unclench. "You know Harris, I was just thinking of something. Does the word exercising mean anything to you?"

The dark-haired man's eyes narrowed in confusion for a moment as he contemplated what that meant. Meanwhile, Buffy's eyes had widened, and she looked like she might pull out a stake any moment. Spike just stood there, grinning at the look of comprehension that had just appeared on Xander's face.

The young man's face had gone pale, and he was staring at both Spike and Buffy with slightly glazed eyes. "Oh my... That was... I was watching the two of... Oh my God, I think that I'm gonna be sick."

Anya rolled her eyes as she watched her husband's face turn slightly green right before he dashed towards a restroom down the hall. She gave them an apologetic look as she slowly walked down the corridor. "Sorry about him - it looks like I'm going to have to explain to him that it's my job to be sick."

* * *

Dawn looked around the room again, grimacing slightly as her headache grew even more painful. She had been awake for almost a half-hour now, and there had yet to be a single person step into her room. "Not that I really mind that much," she whispered quietly, rubbing her aching temple as she sank down into her pillow.

The teenager jumped a bit as a familiar voice suddenly piped up from the doorway. "What don't you mind?"

Her heart beating a little faster than normal, Dawn spun her head towards the door and started to stick her tongue out at Buffy. She seemed to think better of it though, as she just rolled her eyes exasperatedly "What were you trying to do, give me a heart attack?"

A slight smile crept onto Buffy's face as she stepped into the room. "No, not this time. I was just coming to tell you the news." She stopped for a moment before quickly adding to her previous statement. "Good news, I mean. Not bad news; good news."

Dawn grinned at her slightly before sitting up a little straighter. "Good news, huh? Let me make a few guesses and try to figure out what it could possibly be."

Buffy rolled her eyes, but she sat down in a nearby chair nevertheless. "Fine then, you can make a few guesses. You might want to hurry though, because the doctor should be here to give you a final check before you can go home."

Dawn let out a loud sigh of relief before she gave her sister a smile. A curious light came into her eyes though, as soon as she caught sight of her sister's face. "Oh, so that's not the good news you were talking about? Hmm... Let me think for a moment then."

She paused for a moment, a concentrated expression on her face. "Well, let's see... Anya's having twins, and Xander just had a heart attack?"

At the sound of her sister's snort of laughter, Dawn merely shrugged. "Okay, I'm guessing that I was wrong. Let me think... Um... Giles is moving back to Sunnydale permanently; Angel got his son back; I never have to go back to school... Um... The Council's agreed to pay you?"

Dawn shrugged her shoulders, and Buffy couldn't help but give her a grin. "Well, how does this sound? Social Services isn't going to be on our back anymore - thanks to the efforts of everyone's favorite ex-Watcher."

The dark-haired teen stared at her sister for a moment, a shocked look on her face. After a moment though, a joyful grin broke through. "What!? Oh my God, you're kidding. Buffy? You're serious!?"

* * *

Oz let out a tired sigh as he sank down into one of the chairs in the Summers' kitchen. Everyone else was upstairs, trying to force Dawn to go to sleep. The poor girl was refusing to lay down in her own bed though. Not that he could blame her.

"Yeah, I can understand why she wouldn't want to go back to sleep in there - considering all that happened last night and everything. Anyways, that's not really why I'm here."

The young man started slightly as the unfamiliar voice rang out behind him. He turned around and found himself staring into the face of some kind of demon. Oz didn't say a word, he just raised his eyebrows. Quickly, the demonic-looking creature cleared it's throat. "Oh yeah, sorry. I'm Skip, a messenger from the Powers who..."

Oz let out a quiet chuckle as he interrupted Skip. "I know. Cordelia's spirit guide. Whistler told me."

Skip rolled his eyes before sinking into a chair near the werewolf. Oz couldn't help but grimace slightly as the chair creaked - it definitely hadn't been made to hold demon messengers from the Powers That Be. "I should have known. Anyways, I'm supposed to let you know that there's been a change in plans."

The young man raised his eyebrows again at those words. Then, after a few moments, he let out a loud sigh. "Like what?"

* * *

Buffy let out a small yawn as she slowly pulled Dawn's door shut behind her. It had taken a little bit of coaxing, but Buffy - with help from her friends - had managed to convince Dawn that nothing horrible would happen if she went to sleep. Surprisingly though, it had been Spike's promise to keep an eye on her while she slept that had finally put her at ease. Even more surprising, at least in Buffy's opinion, was the fact that he planned on following through with his promise.

Her mind was drawn back to the present when she heard the sound of raised voices coming from downstairs. Fighting the urge to kill whoever was arguing, Buffy clenched her fists and hurried down the stairs. Within moments she had reached the kitchen, and she didn't even stop to see what was going on before she opened her mouth. "If Dawn wakes up, I swear that I'm... What the hell's going on?"

Willow, Tara, and Anya were standing near the opposite wall, obviously trying to stay out of the argument that was going on between Giles, Xander, and Oz - who looked like they might kill each other any second. Buffy let out another slow sigh and raised her voice just a tiny bit. "And I repeat... What the hell's going on?"

After a few moments of silence, Xander let out an exasperated sigh and practically collapsed into a nearby chair. "I'm not even going to say a word. Giles and/or Mr. Cryptic can fill you in."

Buffy raised her eyebrows before looking over at Giles and Oz. The latter quickly held up his hands in defeat before grabbing a chair several feet away from Xander to sit in. Giles let out a tired sigh before muttering something that sounded vaguely like 'cowards' to the other two men. His Slayer merely cleared her throat even louder than before.

* * *

Spike took in an unneeded breath of air as he stared down at the sleeping girl. At the moment she seemed to be in peace, which was surprising considering all that she had been through during the last year or so. Finding out that she was some sort of inter-dimensional key, watching the tumor kill her mum, losing her sister, watching her sister come back from the dead... 

He let out a quiet laugh as he sank down into a chair near her bed. It wasn't like his life... unlife actually, was that normal. He used to be Spike: the Scourge of Europe, killer of two Slayers, member of the Order of Aurelius... Now look at him. Instead of killing the Slayer, he fell in love with her. And to top that off, he was treating her younger sister like she was his own. "Bloody hell, I'm turning into the Poofter."

At the sound of quiet giggling, Spike quickly turned his attention back towards Dawn. She was awake again, and he mentally cursed himself for waking her up. The teen seemed to be reading his mind, however, as she gave him a tired smile. "Don't worry, you didn't wake me up. It was the yelling from downstairs."

His mouth dropped open as he finally noticed the raised voices coming from downstairs. Even with his heightened sense of hearing, Spike hadn't even noticed the voices until Dawn had brought them up. Yep, he was definitely turning into the Poof.

Dawn grinned tiredly at him before pulling herself into a sitting position. "Well, I guess we better go and see what's up. That sounds like Buffy, and..." She paused for a second when the sound of breaking glass suddenly echoed through the house. "...and that kind of sounded like Xander."

She started to pull herself out of bed, but before she could even push her covers off, Spike was by her side holding her down. Dawn gave him an exasperated look, but he merely shook his head. "And where do you think you're going? You know what your big sis will do if I let you get up? Let me give you a clue... It involves a long, pointed piece of wood aimed straight at my heart."

She pushed a strand of hair out of her eyes before glaring at him slightly. However, Dawn didn't even bother to say a word. If Spike wanted her to lie down and go to sleep, it wasn't like she could do anything but agree with him. At least, not unless... She paused for a moment as one of the voices from downstairs became even louder. "What!?"

The vampire and the girl stared at each other for a moment as Buffy's voice floated up from the kitchen. After a few seconds, Xander's voice started to mix in with, and then Giles, and then - surprisingly - Willow's... Spike let out an annoyed sigh, followed a few seconds later by Dawn. 

Without saying a word, the teenager pulled herself out of bed and started for the door. Spike watched her for just a moment before rolling his eyes in exasperation and quickly following her. 'Hell, I'm nothing but a bloody pushover.'


	21. Chapter 21

Oz took two steps out of the door before turning to look back at the group of people still in the kitchen. For a moment he stood there, neither inside nor out, looking from face to face. A look of deep tiredness slowly appeared in his eyes as he stared at the angry looks on most of the faces. "It's not my idea. Blame the Powers That Be."  
He let his eyes focus on Buffy's, an almost pleading look shining in them. The angry look on her face slowly started to be replaced with one of understanding. After a few moments, she gently nodded her head. "We know that, Oz. I think they're who... or what, I guess, we're really ticked off at."  
Most of the other people in the room seemed to pause for a moment before carefully letting their faces show that Buffy was right. Xander's face, however, didn't change a bit. "Well, I think..."  
He was cut off when Anya quickly placed her hands over his mouth and glared at him. "Thinking is usually not a very smart thing for you to do."  
Xander stared at her for a moment, a shocked look on his face, before slowly reaching up and pulling her hands away from his mouth. Then he looked back at the young man standing in the door and shrugged his shoulders helplessly. "I guess that she's probably right about that."  
Willow gave a little snort of laughter, earning a reproachful look from both Xander and Anya. She merely grinned and shrugged her shoulders. After a moment though, she turned her attention back to her ex-boyfriend. By the time that she had turned to face him, the cheerful look had left her face. "We'll see you in a few days then, I guess."  
Oz let his eyes linger on his face for a second before he slowly looked away. "Yeah, I guess that's right."  
After a moment, he let his eyes wander around the room once again. Then, without saying a word, Oz quickly turned and walked out the door, shutting it carefully behind him. A loud click echoed throughout the kitchen as the rest of the Scoobies stared at the closed door.  
For several minutes, no one said a word. Their minds were all obviously somewhere else at the moment, and no one wanted to be the one to bring everyone else back to the present. Needless to say, every person in the room jumped when Dawn's voice suddenly came from behind them. "What's going on?"

* * *

Fred's eyes sprang open as the phone in the lobby suddenly started ringing. Fighting back a yawn, she looked at the clock hanging on the wall nearby. Her eyes opened a little wider as she caught sight of the time, and she quickly pulled herself to her feet. "Damn!"  
Without stopping to think, the young woman practically dashed towards the lobby. By the time she was halfway there, however, she realized that the ringing had stopped. "God, please let Charles have answered it."  
A few seconds later, Fred dashed into the open lobby, a slightly panicked look on her face. It quickly faded into relief, however, as soon as she saw her boyfriend talking on the phone. Breathing a little heavily, she slowly walked towards him. She wanted to do nothing more than to run up to him and grab the phone, just in case it was Angel or Cordelia. Or Lorne. Or Wesley. Or Conn... Stephen.  
Gunn glanced at her for a moment and slowly shook his head. The hopeful look on Fred's face faded away, and she quietly let out the breath that she had been holding in. He shot her a sympathetic before turning his attention back to the phone. Trying to keep the disappointment she felt from showing on her face, Fred slowly walked across the room and dropped down into one of the chairs.  
After a few minutes, Gunn carefully hung up the phone and looked over at his girlfriend. Fred had pulled her legs up into the seat and was sitting there with her arms wrapped around them. Her eyes were focused on the ground, and there was a look in them that looked as if she was trying not to burst into sobs.   
Gunn stood there for a minute or two, doing nothing but stare at the disappointed look on her face. Then, very quietly, he started walking towards her. By the time that he was standing over her shoulder, Fred had hurried wiped away the tears from her eyes.   
The young man smiled gently at her as he tenderly laid his hands on her shoulders. She turned her head towards him and smiled weakly. "I guess that it wasn't Ang... anyone that we know."  
Gunn suddenly coughed and let go of her shoulders. Then, oblivious to the concerned look on Fred's face, he walked around her and dropped down into a nearby chair. For a moment he sat there silently, carefully making sure to keep his eyes focused anywhere but on his girlfriend.  
After several minutes of silence, Fred cleared her throat loudly. At the sound, Gunn quickly moved his gaze back to her, grimacing slightly when he saw the look on her face. With a slightly accusatory tone in her voice, she looked him straight in the eyes. "Charles, what's going on?"

* * *

Dawn let out a quiet yawn as she slowly sat up in her bed and stretched her arms just a little. A peaceful smile appeared on her face, and she couldn't help but think that everything that had happened over the last few days must have just been a dream. God, maybe it had all been a dream. Maybe...  
The teenager looked down at her stomach and let out a quiet sigh. Well, maybe not all of it. The small bulge of her stomach was still there, meaning that she hadn't been dreaming about her pregnancy. "Oh, well."  
She froze as she finally looked down at her hand. There were several faded scratches on it, looking very much like fingernail marks. Within moments, the cheerfulness that she had felt had trickled away. It had all been real - every single bit of it. Meaning...  
What had happened the night before suddenly burst into Dawn's mind, and she quickly glanced over at her alarm clock. Her eyes widened considerably when she saw the time, and she quickly pulled herself out of bed. As soon as she stood up, however, a wave of dizziness seemed to pass through her. Quickly grabbing the bed for support, she sank back down onto it. Silently praying that her morning sickness would hold off until later, she slowly pulled herself back to her feet.   
For a minute she stood there, uncertain whether she was going to be sick or not. After several minutes of no dizziness or nausea, however, she let out a quiet sigh and headed towards her closet. According to Oz, she probably should start packing. He would be back in just a few days, and then...   
Dawn let out another tired sigh as she peered into her closet, the contents of which looking as if they were going to topple over and crush her underneath them at any give moment. "Oh God, this is going to be a long day."  
She peered into the crammed closet, trying to catch sight of the suitcases that she knew had to be there somewhere. After a moment, she let out a loud moan and bit back a curse that had came to her lips. There were the suitcases - buried under a mountain of junk. "Better make that a long summer."

* * *

Buffy let out a yawn as she poured herself yet another cup of coffee. As the Slayer, she was used to not getting much sleep - but less than eight hours of sleep over the last three days wasn't enough for even her. Fighting back another yawn, she quickly put the coffee up to her lips and forced some of the scalding liquid down her throat.  
After several large gulps of the coffee, she was awake enough to think about what Oz had told them the night before. According to him, he had gotten another message from the Powers - this one had been more that a little cryptic though. They had told him to go run his 'errand' in Los Vegas, whatever the hell that meant, and while he was gone she, Dawn, and any of their friends who were coming with them, were supposed to get ready to leave for Los Angeles. Of course, he hadn't had a clue why they were suddenly supposed to leave for LA.   
Buffy shook her head and took another long sip of coffee. Xander and Anya had left soon after Oz, claiming to have to start packing right then if they were expected to be ready to leave in just a few days. Spike had helped her get Dawn back to sleep before leaving for his crypt. She didn't know what he would need to pack for... Buffy paused a second and almost laughed out loud. God, what was she doing? For all she knew, Spike didn't even plan on going with them. "Well, I guess that we'll find out later."   
Since all of Giles's belongings were still packed, he had left to go help Tara pack up a few things that were left in her dorm room - right after he had called Angel's friends in Los Angeles. Willow was upstairs, trying to shove both her and Tara's belongings into three large suitcases. Buffy paused, mid sip, as she thought about that. Considering that it might be impossible for Willow to finish that task without using magic, and since she was trying to keep from using any...  
The Slayer slowly pulled herself to her feet and heading for the door. Maybe it would be smart for her to go upstairs and try to help Willow pack. And, now that she thought about it, maybe she should go ahead and pack herself. Of course...  
Buffy's thoughts were cut off by the sound of a loud crash coming from what sounded like Dawn's room. She quickly dashed up the stairs, almost crashing into Willow, who was heading the same way she was. The two of them shared a look before rushing into Dawn's room - and freezing in surprise.  
Dawn was sitting on the floor, surrounded by what appeared to be enough clothes to fill an entire mall. Laying beside her was a suitcase - or, more precisely, two piece of a suitcase. Buffy gaped in shock for a moment before finally turning to her sister. "What in the..."  
She didn't even finish her sentence before Dawn had started her explanation. "It really isn't my fault, you know. I mean, I don't have a clue who put my suitcase at the bottom of my closet. And, now that I think about it, you really should be more worried about me, shouldn't you? I could have been grievously injured when all of that stuff fell, and you're just standing there..."  
Buffy cleared her throat and shot her sister a look. Dawn rolled her eyes, but she stopped rambling for a minute. "Trust me, Dawn, I really don't want to know. How about I just buy you a new suitcase." The Slayer looked around the room for a moment and grimaced. "Or three."

* * *

He watched her from the shadows, grimacing every few minutes at how sloppily she was staking some of the vampires. Justine had told him that she was the Slayer, the one girl in the world who had the power to fight against the forces of evil. At times like this, however, he wondered if she was telling him the truth about that. From what he could see, she didn't seem to be that adept at killing vampires. True, she was able to stake them - she just didn't seem to have the natural talent at doing so that he would have thought a Slayer would possess.   
There was a sudden cry from the alley, and he quickly turned his attention back to Justine. When the fight had begun, there had been four vampires against her. Now, there were only two vamps left. Suddenly one of the vampires let out a pained moan before bursting into dust. A smirk appeared on the boy's face as he quickly corrected himself - make that one vamp left.  
The remaining vamp, a female, took one look at Justine before turning and dashing away. Clearly, she didn't plan on meeting the same fate as her friends. Of course, it wasn't like she had much of a say in the whole matter.  
Before the vampire had a chance to get out of the alley, he stepped out from the shadows, a stake ready in his hand. The vamp didn't even see him until the stake was already through her heart. She lifted her head towards him, a fearful look on her no-longer vamped out face, just as she burst into dust.  
He stood still for a moment, letting the dust blow around him as he slowly became lost in his memories. Why couldn't his father be there with him now, watching proudly as his son rid the world of its demons? It just wasn't fair.  
But was what he had done to the vampire fair? Every night for the last three weeks, that thought had came to his mind. Yes, according to Justine that monster had killed his father. Now that he had thought about that some, however, he couldn't help but be a little doubtful. There had been something wrong about the marks on his father's neck. He didn't know what it was, or how he knew, but there had definitely been something wrong. Justine had sworn that it had been Angel though...  
He started just a little as he felt someplace their arm around his shoulder. His eyes widened as he spun around to find himself facing - Justine. She looked at him curiously for a moment, obviously wondering why he hadn't noticed her come up to him. After only a few weeks, however, she had learned not to pry into his thoughts. Instead, she merely gave him a tender smile. "Good job, Stephen. Come on now, let's go on home."

* * *

Dawn let out a sigh as she grabbed two cheap-looking suitcases from the bargain rack. Buffy had volunteered to drive her, but - since she enjoyed living - she had declined her sister's offer. Dawn had expected Buffy to sigh and then call Xander or someone to come and pick her up. Needless to say, that hadn't happened. So, that had left her with two options - walk, or wait until night so that... "What the bloody hell is taking you so long?"  
She jumped as Spike came up behind her, an annoyed look on his face. "I said that I'd drive you here, and the take you home. You didn't mention that it would take all night for you to..."  
Dawn quickly held up the two suitcases. He let out a loud sigh before turning and heading towards the front of the store. "Fine, go pay for those things so that I can get you home already."  
After he had taken less than half-a-dozen steps, Spike stopped and looked back at her. "On second thought, maybe I should go with you and make sure that you don't just walk out without paying for the..."  
He cut off when he caught sight of the look on Dawn's face. "Right then. I'll just go and wait for you outside."  
Dawn couldn't help but grin as he hurried away from her. After a moment though, she started for the checkout counter. There was still a wide smile on her face as she carefully lifted the two suitcases onto the counter. The smile faded, however, as the cashier turned his face towards her.  
She stared for a moment, startled by how familiar the young man standing there seemed. It was almost like she had met him before, but she knew that it was impossible. If she had ever met this guys she would have remembered. He was, for lack of a better word, a hottie - tall, muscular, raven black hair that was cut short on his head...  
Dawn froze as she looked into his eyes, which just happened to be bright green. There was recognition shining in his eyes... She let out a quiet gasp as a memory suddenly shot back into her mind, almost like a bolt of lightning. Bright lights, loud noises, a handsome face... And a name. "Kyle. Kyle Hutchins."


	22. Chapter 22

As soon as the girl said his name, Kyle felt a sudden urge to call this job quits and just bolt from the store; however, he quickly forced that from his mind. There wasn't any reason for him to make a fool of himself. Just because that girl... Hell, he didn't even remember her name. It had started with an "A," hadn't it? No, that had been Alicia... This girl's name had started with a "D." Donna? No, that wasn't right. Diana? Daisy? Dawn? Yeah, that was it. Dawn.

There was a mixture of emotions running through the girl, Dawn's, eyes. With just one glimpse, Kyle had seen surprise, shock, pain, hurt, anger... and something else that he just couldn't put his finger on. He was careful not to let anything show on his face though. He had been through this several times before, and he knew better than to let her find a way to break through his shell. Still, he couldn't help but let his eyes run over her for just a moment. He hadn't realized how young she was. Shit, that could be a problem. Being arrested for statutory rape, that's all he needed.

Finally he noticed that she was still staring at him silently, an unreadable expression on her face. Kyle quickly glanced around, making sure that there wasn't anyone nearby, before leaning down so that he was staring straight into her eyes. "Dawn. Wh... How have you been?"

As soon as the words left him mouth, he regretted them. From the look of this kid, she might just be willing to press charges against him - and he definitely hadn't started off this conversation the right way, not if he was going to have to sweet talk her at least. He let his thoughts wander off, however, as she kept staring at him. The moment he had asked her how she was, a strange light had lit up her eyes, and there was just something plain creepy about the way she kept staring at him like that.

* * *

Dawn tried her best not to burst into laughter, mainly because she knew that it would probably be loud and hysterical. Four simple words. 'How have you been?' It was almost ironic now that she thought about it. She didn't even have a clue how to answer. 

_Oh, I'm fine. How have you been? By the way, I'm pregnant._ Yeah right. What was she trying to do, give Kyle a heart attack. Not that he didn't deserve it. _Oh, I've been better. Remember that night you raped me? Guess what, you're gonna be a dad._ Like that would go over very well. I know that you and I don't know each other very well, but since we're gonna be parents... Sure, that would work. Almost as well as, _Well, did you know that I'm some kind of Key thing? And my sister's the Slayer. By the way, we're gonna have a baby who just might be bringing the apocalypse with him or her._

A wry grin came to her face as she looked up at Kyle. There really wasn't a delicate way to put this, was there? "Oh, I've been okay. You know, being grounded. Trying to forget about what you did to... What happened that night."

An uncomfortable look was now on his face, and it was obvious that he wanted to talk about anything but that night. Boy, was he in for a surprise. "By the way..."

* * *

Kyle knew that there was probably a slightly frightened look on his face, but he really didn't care at the moment. This girl, Dawn, was being way too serious. There was something she wanted to tell him, and he had an uneasy feeling in his gut about whatever it was. He wanted to reach out an grab her, to make her tell him whatever the hell was going on. Then he could wait until his shift was over, tell the boss that he wouldn't be back, and then get out of the town before the sun rose.

He could feel Dawn's eyes on him, and it felt almost like she was reading his inner thoughts. It was almost as if she knew just what he was planning, and it was starting to really scare him. That was really saying something, considering all the things that he had seen in this town over the last nineteen years. 

Dawn's voice was cold as she finished the sentence that she had started. "I thought that you might like to know just what's happened to me since the last time I saw you. All of it. Starting with one, little bitty fact."

She stepped away from the counter, and Kyle was able to see her entire body for the first time. His eyes moved up and down, trying to see whatever she was talking about. He didn't notice anything different though. Dawn looked exactly like she had at the bar, except that she seemed just a little fa...

He could feel the color draining from his face, and there wasn't anything he could do about it. This wasn... This cou... God, in one moment everything in his life seemed to be spinning out of control. If she was really... Forget about quitting, or packing for that matter. He could leave town in ten minutes and be in LA by morning. His parents could send him his stuff. They'd be happy to finally have him out of the house... 

_Calm down, Hutchins. She hasn't said anything yet. Maybe you're just jumping to conclusions. Just because she's gained some weight doesn't mean that she's..._

"I'm pregnant. Congratulations, you're gonna be a father."

Kyle jerked his head so that he was looking straight into her eyes. Before he could stop it, a surprised "What!?!" had burst from his lips. He was surprised, however, that his outcry hadn't been the only one. He mind racing, he quickly let his eyes move past Dawn's left shoulder. There was a man standing there, his hair a bleached blonde and a dangerous glint shining in his blue eyes.

For a moment, Kyle wasn't sure exactly what to think about the man. It was obvious that he knew Dawn, but how exactly was that? Her father? No, he appeared to be too young. Her boyfriend? No, he had dealt with girls' boyfriends before - and this guy sure as hell wasn't like them. Her brother? That definitely seemed to be the best answer to him. Still, it wasn't like he would do anything to him in a fairly crowded store.

"Spike, don't you dare kill him. Are you listening to me? Spike... Come on, at least think about the chip. I mean it, don't you kill him." 

And then again...


	23. Chapter 23

Dawn could see the fear shining in Kyle's eyes, and - for just a moment - she considered just letting Spike rip the guy into shreds. Almost as quickly as the thought came into her mind though, she forced it away. No matter what the guy had done, he didn't deserve to feel Spike's wrath. Besides, she didn't want Buffy to stake him or anything. Of course, knowing her sister, Kyle might be in better shape if he was ripped apart by a homicidal vampire... 

She quickly shook her head and looked over at the vampire, who seemed to be seriously considering murder. "Spike, don't you dare kill him. Are you listening to me? Spike... Come on, at least think about the chip. I mean it, don't you kill him."

* * *

Connor reached up and gently brushed a loose strand of hair out of his face. Then, a hesitant expression in his eyes, he slowly moved towards the building - making sure not to stray from the shadows. He didn't know why he kept coming back here, back to this place and these people. Still, he had been careful not to let them see him, though he didn't really know why. It wasn't as if they knew what he had done...

Once again, he quickly reached up and brushed the wayward hair away from his face. Justine had disappeared several days earlier, leaving him to fend for himself. Not that he minded. Still, he had grown accustomed to having... company. It puzzled him slightly, however, that he wasn't in the least bit worried about what had happened to the young woman - yet he couldn't keep his fath... the vampire's words out of his mind. _Someday you'll learn the truth, and you'll hate yourself. Don't. It's not your fault. I don't blame you. Listen to me. I love you. Never forget that. Connor. Connor. Never forget that I'm your father, and that I love you._

For just a moment, a wave of uncertainty passed through his mind. Did he truly know that Angel had killed his father? Did he? True, Justine had said that he did... But she had also told him that she was the Slayer, and it appeared to him that she was lying about that. But what about the holes? He had seen them himself, the mark of a vampire on his father's neck. Yet, there was still an inkling of doubt... No, it was better if he didn't think about that. Any of that. Not now, at least.

He took a deep breath before slowly stepping out of the shadows. Even though he hadn't been seen by anyone, Connor had been watching Angel's friends for weeks. He knew that the only two here were the ones named Gunn and Fred. The demon, Lorne, had left even before he had... Had left quite a while back.

Quickly he shook his head, trying to force the sudden onslaught of guilt back into the dark parts of his mind. Then, he forced his mind to return back to the train of thought it had been in. The other man, Wesley, wasn't part of their little group anymore - at least, that was how it appeared to him. And then there was Cordelia... 

An uncertain look appeared on his young face, and for a moment he stood quite still - not sure what to make of her disappearance. The young woman had gone missing the same that night that he had... Swiftly he shook his head again. Why couldn't he make that memory fade away?

He jumped slightly as one of the hotel's doors suddenly opened, and the woman - Fred - walked out. Hurriedly, he sank back into the shadows. There was a worried look shining in her eyes, and she appeared to have aged years since he had last looked at her closely - yet it had only been mere weeks.

Connor felt his curiosity rising, and he pondered for a moment whether he should give up his skulking about and just walk out into the light. Neither she nor her boyfriend knew that he had been involved in Angel's disappearance, at least not that he could see. It might be worth it just to...

He forced his mind back into the presence as the man, Gunn, suddenly appeared in the doorway of the Hyperion. There was a tired look on his face, and it seemed to just become more exhausted as his eyes caught sight of Fred. To Connor's surprise, the dark-skinned man didn't even say a word. He merely sigh and started walking over to where the woman was sitting.

Gunn dropped down onto the seat beside her, and the young woman looked up so that she was facing him - a slightly hopeful look in her eyes. It faded, however, as the man slowly shook his head. "Sorry baby, I still haven't been able to find out anything else."

Connor listened to them carefully, the expression on his face becoming more and more curious. The man, Gunn, was talking quietly - but not quiet enough to escape the teenager's hearing, however. "I tried getting hold of Lorne again, but apparently his stay in Los Vegas wasn't quite what he expected. I'm not sure of exactly what happened, but according to a pretty reliable source of mine, there was something strange going on at the club he was at. Our kind of strange, I mean. Some guy showed up there last night and pretty much kicked whoever was in charge's ass. Then he disappeared with a certain green-skinned, singing demon who - in all of the phone calls we've had with him - has never gave us a sign that there might be something supernatural going on in..." 

The man stopped for a moment, and looked over at his girlfriend with a shocked look on his face. She didn't say anything but merely gave him a concerned look. After a moment, he let out an exasperated sigh and let his hand fly up to hit his head. "I am such an idiot. Every phone call that we got through to him, when he talked about 'Fluffy'..."

Fred merely stared at him, a look on her face that seemed to be saying that she though he had lost his mind - a thought that was starting to seem very possible to Connor as he watched the young man let out a quiet laugh. After a moment, however, Gunn looked back up at his girlfriend - all of the humor gone from his eyes. "Never mind, it's not important. I'll explain to you later."

She gave him a slightly concerned look before shrugging and leaning her head against his shoulder. "What do you think's going to happen once the Slayer gets here with her friends?"

Connor started slightly, surprised at hearing them mention the Slayer. It was obvious that they weren't talking about Justine, but if that was so... Who were they talking about?

* * *

Spike felt anger rushing through his body, telling him to reach over and snap the little brat's neck - chip or no chip. He tensed his muscles ever so slightly, and he started to shift into his game face... Started being the main word. Before the vampire could let his true nature show, a felt a familiar hand grab his.

Flames dancing in his eyes, he looked over at Dawn and glared. His anger quickly faded away, however, when he saw the expression shining on her face. She gave him a look that told him to back down, and then turned back to the young man who was now cowering behind the counter.

An evil smirk came to Spike's face as he watched the young girl ease her way over to the counter, positioning herself so that she was practically looking straight into the young man's eyes. The guy reeked of terror, and the vampire couldn't help but feel amused by how quickly the 'tough guy' had changed into a terrified babe.

Yes, he would let the Niblet deal with him. For now. Then, if he didn't like how things were going, he'd rip out the boy's throat. Or maybe his heart. Or maybe he wouldn't be merciful and kill him - instead, he could always let the Slayer handle him. In fact, if he knew Buffy, it might be better if he did just let her 'talk' with the kid. After he broke a few of the brat's ribs. Or maybe one of his arms.

* * *

His mind racing, the teenage boy still managed to keep his mind focused on the conversation going on between the two people sitting in the garden. They had been talking about the fact that his fath... Angel had once been in love with the current Slayer. The man, Gunn, hadn't known many details, but he had been trying to explain to Fred a little about this Slayer's past. Then they had started talking about a prophecy, one that involved the younger sister of the Slayer. And him.

A shiver ran down Connor's spine, causing him to shudder just a bit. It was just too much information for his mind to handle, and then there was the guilt that once again burning on his insides. He had came here to watch these two people, to learn a little about the monster that he had sunk to the bottom of the ocean. And he was seriously starting to wonder if perhaps he was the true monster.

He took a step backwards, meaning to turn around and quietly sneak back out the way that he had come. However, fate seemed to have a different plan for him. His foot came down on a fallen tree branch, a mere stick lying on the grass. Unfortunately, the sound that the stick made as it cracked in two seemed to echo throughout the still night.

Before Connor could even react, Gunn had managed to get right in front of him. He felt his head spin slightly as the man grabbed his shirt and yanked him forcefully out of the shadows. His mind was screaming at him to fight back, to get away from this place. He couldn't get his body to follow orders, however. 

He heard a startled gasp and couldn't help but flinch as Gunn's hands dug even more tightly into his shirt. Then, surprisingly suddenly, the black man let go of him. Not expecting the movement, Connor's legs seemed to collapse out from under him, and he sank slowly down to the ground. 

His face was looking downwards at the grass, and he was trying his hardest not to look up. He couldn't help it, however, when Fred's quiet voice rang out, her words tinged with uncertainty. "Connor?"

* * *

Dawn looked at Kyle for a moment, studying him closely for the first time. He appeared to be young, no more than a few years older than her. It was obvious from the look on his face, however, that he was legally an adult. The absurdity of his fear tickled her slightly, and she couldn't help but let out a quiet laugh. As soon as the sound left her throat, the young man behind the counter gave her a confused look. "What the hell is so funny?"

A curious smile slowly appeared on the young girl's face, and for a moment she seemed to be much older than her physical appearance would suggest. "You. You are what's so funny."

The confused look on Kyle's face grew even stronger, and he suddenly felt the need to back away slightly from this girl. Dawn's eyes were twinkling with humor, yet there was a look of deadly seriousness of her face. "It amuses me, Kyle Hutchins, that you are worried that I'm going to file for statutory rape. I assume that is what you are thinking, am I right? Yes, I thought so."

She let out another eerie laugh, and Kyle couldn't help but notice the slightly worried look on the face of the man standing behind her. At the moment though, he was still focusing in on the girl standing in front of him. "Well Kyle, you won't have to worry about that. You see, there are many things that aren't as they appear. Tell me, how long have you lived in Sunnydale?"

He started slightly at her question, but the answer quickly left his lips. "I've lived here all my life." Her gaze didn't leave him, and Kyle suddenly realized that she wanted to know just how old he was. "Nineteen years. I've lived in this crappy town nineteen years."

Dawn smiled slightly as she looked at him. "Ah. So, I assume that you know about certain... odd things about this town."

Kyle wasn't sure where she was going, but he did know exactly what she was talking about though. Usually, he wouldn't even think about mentioning any of the stuff that he knew about this town - but, with the girl staring at him with that strange look, he felt like he might be safer if he answered her question completely. "You mean like people turning up drained of their blood with two holes in their necks? And certain people never being seen on nights of full moons, but strange creatures that howl at the moon and attack people showing up instead? And the mayor of the town suddenly turning into a monster and eating half of my brother's graduating class? And that girl, Buffy Summers, always showing up when things get really..."

Kyle froze, a though suddenly crossing his mind. When he had met Dawn, she had told him her last name. And, if he wasn't mistaken, hadn't it been...

He started slightly as Dawn's voice suddenly spoke out, sounding even stranger than before. "Yes, my last name is Summers. Buffy's my sister. And she's the Vampire Slayer, or at least a Vampire Slayer. But that's not really important right now. You see, there's something out there, something evil, that needs me to end the world. Or, to be more specific, that needs the baby inside of me to end the world."  
Kyle was starting to feel slightly detached from his body, almost as if he was going to faint. But he knew, somehow, that he wasn't. Maybe it was the look that the guy behind Dawn was giving him. The look that said he'd be dead if he turned his back on that guy. Quickly, he let his mind turned back to the girl.

She gave him a cold grin before looking straight into his eyes. "You see, the world needs my sister right now. But if she finds out who you are, she'll kill you - and then she'll be put in jail for murder, and both Slayers will be out of the picture. And that can't happen. So, I'm going to offer you a deal."

Dawn paused for a moment, looking Kyle up and down. Yes, this guy was definitely a scumbag. An extremely cute scumbag, but still a scumbag. "Get out of Sunnydale. Tonight. And don't let me see you again, unless you plan on actually becoming a father to this baby - which I seriously doubt is going to happen. Now... Go."

She turned towards her friend, the man named Spike, and nodded slightly. A grin crossed his face, and suddenly - to Kyle's shock - the man's face twisted into that of a vampire. Kyle shot them both a terrified look before dashing out from behind the counter and dashing towards the front of the store. A small smile came to Dawn's face as she heard his voice call out "I quit!" and then the sound of a door slamming.

Dawn looked up at Spike, knowing very well what she was going to see on his face. The anger that she had expected, however, wasn't there. In fact, there was a look of deep respect shining in his blue eyes. "I'm assuming that we aren't going to mention any of this to big sis, huh?" 

Dawn didn't look at him, but merely let her quiet words answer his question. "What do you think Spike?"  
The vampire shook his head gently and looked carefully at the girl standing in front of him. "You know, pet, if I had been you, I would have just killed him."

She smiled slightly before leaning down and picking up her suitcases. Without looking at him, she let out a quiet laugh. "I know."

The teenage girl slowly stood back up and started walking towards the front of the store. She stopped, though, as Spike's voice suddenly rang out from behind her. "For some reason, I think that you'll see him again."

Dawn's voice was barely above a whisper as she turned and smiled gently at the vampire. "I know."  
Without saying another word, she picked up the suitcases and started walking towards the door at the front of the store. Before she reached it, however, Spike's voice suddenly sounded out behind her again. "Wait a sec... Did you pay for those?"


	24. Chapter 24

As Dawn walked through the door, followed almost immediately by Spike, Buffy couldn't help but feel a slight shiver of worry move up her spine. It was obvious from the expressions on their faces that, while they had been gone, the two of them had gotten into something - the question was, however, what?

Both the vampire and the teenager must have noticed her gaze on them, because they both dropped their eyes down to the ground. As soon as they did that, the Slayer let out a silent groan. What on earth had they done?

Mentally counting to ten, Buffy let out another sigh - this one audible to both Dawn and Spike. Trying her best not to lost her temper, the blonde-haired woman opened her mouth... an, before she could utter a word, was interrupted by Willow's voice coming from almost directly behind her. "Okay, what have you two been up to?"

Buffy had to struggle not to jump even a bit in surprise, while - at the same time - wondering how the red-haired witch had managed to sneak up on her in the first place. She turned her head just a bit and shot Willow a rather annoyed look. Her friend merely smiled and shrugged her shoulders apologetically before letting her gaze move back to Spike and Dawn, who both had rather guilty expressions on their faces.

Once more letting out a barely audible sigh, Buffy turned back towards them and raised an eyebrow. Almost immediately, Spike jabbed the teenager with his elbow, causing Dawn to shoot him a rather nasty glare. He merely smirked at her though, before letting his eyes flicker in Buffy's direction.

The dark-haired girl let a nervous grin come to her face as she let her right hand drift down and come to rest on the slight bulge of her stomach. Then, in a voice that could almost be considered nonchalant, she let her gaze meet her sister's. "Guess who we ran into?"

* * *

Connor kept his gaze focused on one of the walls of the Hyperion as both Gunn and Fred threw questions at him. Even if he knew the answers to most of them, which he didn't, he had no reason to answer them. At least, that was what he kept telling himself.

"Where have you been?"

"Do you know what happened to Angel?"

 

"What about Cordy? Do you know what happened to Cordelia?"

 

"How long have you been spying on us?"

"Where have you been staying?"

 

"You aren't going to answer any of our questions, are you?"

 

The moment that the words left Fred's mouth, both Connor and Gunn looked at her in surprise. Their expressions quickly faded away though, leaving an angry look on Gunn's face and a sullen one look on Connor's. Fred just sat there a moment, however, gazing at Connor's face. Suddenly, without warning and without saying a word, the young woman reached out and slapped the teenager right across the face.

Surprised looks appeared in both Gunn's and Connor's eyes as the teenager let a hand come up to touch his red cheek. Fred didn't seem to notice their expressions, however, as she glared at Connor. For a moment, the three of them sat there in silence, no one willing to break the stillness. After several minutes though, a quiet whisper suddenly came from Fred's direction. "I'm sorry Connor. I know that you probably don't have a clue about what happened to Angel and Cordelia. It's just..."

Her voice trailed off as a few tears slowly started streaming down her face. Gunn sighed quietly before standing up and walking over behind her. He gently placed his hands on her shoulders, giving her a tiny bit of assurance while, at the same time, glaring at Connor. With one more almost inaudible sigh, the young woman forced her tears to stop. Then, her eyes still shining with unshed tears, she turned her gaze back towards the teenager.

He stared into her eyes for a moment before letting his gaze drop. Angel's words seemed to echo through his mind as he focused on the floor. "Never forget..." He sat there for a few minutes, a feeling of uncertainty flooding through him. After a few seconds, however, he found himself lifting his eyes and meeting Gunn's and Fred's gazes. "I might know what happened to An..."

His words were cut off as a blinding pain suddenly shot through his head. Darkness started to claw at the edge of his vision, and Connor struggled not to cry out in pain. Without even being fully aware of what he was doing, the teenager let his hands fly up to clutch his aching skull. He saw, as if through a mist, Angel's two friends sharing startled looks and reaching for him. As his mind faded, he heard Fred call out his name and felt two strong hands grab him. Then everything went dark.

* * *

Dawn watched in fascination as her sister's face slowly turned white, then red, and then to what appeared to be almost purple. She didn't think that she had ever seen Buffy this angry before - and that was saying quite a bit. After a few minutes though, the Slayer's face slowly started to return to its normal color. Her eyes flickered over Dawn for a second before moving past her and landing on Spike. "Did you kill him?"

The vampire quickly held up his hands and let an innocent expression appear on his face. "Really pet, have you forgotten about the chip in my head? I couldn't rip off his head and drain him dry - not that I wanted to."

Dawn struggled to stifle a giggle as Spike slowly moved behind her, keeping her between him and Buffy - who had an expression on her face unlike anything the teenage girl had ever seen before. "So you didn't kill him? ... Good. ... 'Cause I want to be the one to put that son of a..."

"Buffy Anne Summers!"

The Slayer turned around, a slightly sheepish look in her eyes, as Willow's voice rang through the kitchen. The red-haired woman was still standing there, her hands placed defiantly on her hips and a fiery expression shining in her eyes. For a moment, to Buffy and Dawn at least, she looked just like Joyce had whenever she was preparing to scold them. The image was ruined, however, with Willow's next words. "Maybe I want to be the one to strangle him."

The severity in her voice was softened quite a bit by the amused twinkle in her eyes. Dawn let out a quiet burst of laughter, followed almost immediately by Spike. Even Buffy seemed to be struggling to keep a straight face. After what seemed like ages, the blonde Slayer let a smile come to her face as she mock-glared at her best friend. "Now look what you've done, Wills. I'm not in a murderous mood anymore."  
Dawn let a tired smile come to her face as she watched Buffy and Willow throw friendly banter between themselves. It faded a few minutes later, however, as a blinding pain shot through her head. Almost immediately the world around her seemed to grow dark, and she felt her legs start to collapse out from under her. She heard several voices calling out her name, but she couldn't convince her mouth to form a response as her mind sank deeper and deeper into darkness.

* * *

_Connor spun his head from side to side, his eyes searching frantically for any sign of life. There was nothing there though, nothing but darkness. The pain he had felt in his head had finally faded away though, leaving behind nothing but a dull ache. That ache, however, was enough to keep a significant amount of worry running through his veins._

_Without warning, a sudden scream cut through the silence. A bright light suddenly appeared directly in front of Connor, causing the teenager to quickly avert his gaze. Almost as rapidly as it had appeared, however, it faded away. The teenager cautiously let his gaze turn back to where the light had appeared - and his eyes widened in surprise._

_A teenage girl was kneeling on the ground in front of him, dark hair cascading down her back. Her eyes were wide with shock as they gazed at their surroundings. After a few moments though, she seemed to become aware of him. She stared at him for a second, an amazed expression on her pretty face. "You're Angel's son..."_

_Connor started, and his eyes widened just a bit. His surprise grew even larger, however, as the young girl pulled herself to her feet. She was taller than he had thought, though not quite as tall as him. His mind really wasn't focused on that though. Instead, he let it focus on the slight bulge that was barely apparent under her loose shirt. "And you're the Slayer's sister..."_

* * *

Cordelia Chase - former Queen Bitch of Sunnydale, seer for the Powers That Be, and high being - was pissed. Her eyes flashed with anger as she stared at the being in front of her. "Damnit! What the hell do you mean by 'no you can't help them'!?"

The being's startling blue eyes flashed with sympathy as he gently shook his head. "I'm sorry Princess, but you know what they said. We aren't supposed to get involved yet. Not until..."

Cordelia's eyes flashed with anger once more as she turned away from him and let her gaze drift back to the moving image of Connor and Dawn. "Screw them! You know, I really don't give a damn what they said. I'm not going to just stand by and watch as..."

Her voice trailed off as she turned back towards him. There was a look in her eyes that he recognizes almost immediately, and quickly shook his head emphatically. "No. Absolutely not. The two of us are not going to go down there and help them. I absolutely, one hundred percent, will not break any more rules. Especially since I'll be the once who gets blamed for it."

Cordelia merely smiled at him, which caused a sinking feeling to suddenly appear inside of him. "Whoever said that I wanted the two of us to go down there? I mean, do you really think that I'm stupid enough to disobey the Powers... again... and go back down to earth without even thinking about it? Please, give me a little more credit than that."

He let out a quiet sigh of relief and slowly started to turn around. Cordelia's next words caused him to spin around and stare at her in shock, however. "No, I've got more sense than that. And that's why you're going to stay here and cover for me."

* * *

Fred shrugged away from Gunn as he started to wrap his arms around her. She shook her head and once again turned her attention back to the teenager that was laying on the couch in front of them. Connor was still unconscious, and there was a pained look frozen on his sleeping face. She stood there for a moment, staring down at him with an uncertain expression on her face, before slowly turning her attention back to her boyfriend. "What do you think happened to him, Charles?"

Gunn shook his head slightly before letting his eyes focus on Connor. "I don't have a clue. All I know is that he was about to tell us something about Angel."

The brown-haired woman gave him a cheerless smile before slowly sinking down into a nearby chair. "I know that. We aren't going to find out what that was until he wakes up though."

Trying to hold back the tears of exhaustion that were brimming in her eyes, Fred dropped her gaze so that she was staring at her own lap. "We're closer than we've been in over a month, but we're completely helpless to do anything."

A quiet laugh suddenly sounded from the doorway, and both Fred and Gunn pun their eyes towards it. The moment they saw who was there, however, identical expressions of amazement appeared on their faces. Standing in the door was Cordelia, wearing a white gown that seemed to almost be shining. Her hair was a little longer that it had been the last time they had seen her, and it was once more a light brown, but other than that she seemed to not have changed even a bit. "Cor... Cordelia?"

Cordelia's dark eyes flickered in the direction of her friends, and she allowed a small smile to appear on her face. It quickly faded, however, as her gaze drifted past them and landed on Connor. "I'll explain everything later. Right now, helping him and Dawn is our first priority."

A confused expression suddenly appear in Gunn's eyes as he let his gaze move away from Cordelia and land on Connor. His mouth silently mouthed Dawn's name, his puzzlement showing clearly on his face. A light of understanding seemed to appear in Fred's eyes, however, as she met Cordelia's gaze. "Of course, the prophecy..."

* * *

Buffy stood in the doorway of the living room for a moment, her gaze focused on both her sister, who was laying unconscious on the couch, and Spike, who was kneeling beside her, gently stroking the teenager's long hair. There was an expression on her face that couldn't be described as anything but loving, and for just a second the Slayer was allowed to see just how deeply the vampire cared for Dawn. 

At this moment, there was no doubt in her mind that there was more than a government chip keeping him from killing them all. From the way that he was treating her little sister, a person might even think that they were flesh and blood. 'Of course, he probably murdered his own family,' she thought with a wry grin. "Slayer?"

The blonde-haired woman started just a bit as Spike's voice echoed through the room. He was still kneeling beside Dawn, but her eyes were focused on her. Fighting back the embarrassment that she felt at being caught staring at him, she quickly forced an indignant expression onto her face. Moments later, Buffy turned and stomped out of the room, heading in the direction of the kitchen, while trying her best to ignore the amused laughter that floated through the air behind her.

* * *

Giles let out a tired sigh as he rubbed his temples. Willow and Tara, who were sitting beside him at the table, both shot him a sympathetic look before grimacing as Anya's voice floated in from the hall. "All I'm saying is that I don't see the point of Buffy calling us. There's nothing that we can do to help Dawn come out of her coma, or whatever it is, so we should still be at home packing for our trip to L.A. and having sex."

"Anya, honey..."

"Don't give me that! Just because I'm pregnant doesn't mean that I still don't need orgasms!"

"Why don't we talk about this later..."

"Because I want to talk about it now!"

"Anya..."

"That's it, I'm calling Hallie!"  
At those words, the sip of coffee that Giles had just taken suddenly found itself being spat out. Willow's eyes widened in surprise, and she quickly spun her head towards the door that led out of the kitchen. Tara didn't move for a moment, her entire body frozen. "You don't think that she'd really..."

The three of them shared glances before, at almost the same moment, leaping to their feet. The sound of Buffy's voice coming from the hall quickly brought looks of relief to their faces though. "What the hell do you think you're doing!?"  
A few seconds later, the blonde Slayer stormed into the kitchen - followed closely by an angry-looking Anya and a white-faced Xander. "My sister's laying in the living room unconscious, and you're trying to conjure a vengeance demon in the hall!"

Buffy glared at them once more before dropping down into the chair beside Giles. She let out a tired sigh as she let her head drop down to the table. "Nothing's changed. She's still laying in there with that pained expression on her face, and I don't have a clue as to what's wrong with her."

The sound of someone clearing his throat suddenly sounded from the door that Buffy, Xander, and Anya had just came through. Everyone in the kitchen almost immediately turned their heads towards it, where Oz was quietly standing. "I let myself in. You really should lock that front door."

His eyes quickly drifted over the kitchen before landing on Willow. They stared at each other for a moment before she tore her eyes away. Oz didn't say anything, but a slightly hurt expression appeared in his eyes. After a moment it faded though, and his gaze moved to Buffy. "What happened to Dawn?"

The Slayer shrugged helplessly at him before pulling herself to her feet. "She collapsed a while ago, clutching her head in pain. She's been unconscious for almost three hours now. We were hoping that you knew what was up, but I guess not..."

Her voice drifted off for a moment before she answered his unspoken question from a few minutes earlier. "And really, what's the point of locking the door when vamps can't enter without permission and demons will just break it down? At least this way we don't have to keep paying for a new one."

Buffy's gaze drifted past Oz, and she suddenly tensed. After a moment or two though, a thought seemed to cross her mind. She shot the werewolf a look before letting out a rather loud sigh. "Can you at least tell me why the hell a green demon wearing a silver suit is standing behind you?"


End file.
